ShopSmart swaps shares for AOL, Wal-Mart thump

ShopSmart, a British-based comparison shopping engine is poised (the FT says) to sell 20 per cent of the company's equity to AOL and Wal-Mart for - nothing!

However, it will gain distribution on AOL and Wal-mart Web sites in Europe, and it will see Wal-Mart's own price comparison site, Valuemad, injected into its business.

Privately-held Shopsmart is worth £200 million and £300 million "in the current climate", according to analysts cited by the FT.

Paul Allen is dipping into his loose change to help shore up TheStreet.com, the finance news Web site.

The Microsoft co-founder is through his vehicle Vulcan Ventures teaming up with GO2Net, to invest $7.5 million in the financially-challenged company, in return for 2.5 each in the equity. The investors also get an option to buy an additional 7.45 per cent each of outstanding shares over the next six months at $13.50 a share. This is more than double yesterday's closing price of just over $5 and represents a significant endorsement of TheStreet.com.

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