eBay Agrees to Acquire Rent.com for $415 Million

January 08, 2005

eBay World’s Online Marketplace (Nasdaq:EBAY) (www.ebay.com) has agreed to acquire privately held Rent.com (www.rent.com), a leading Internet listing company in the apartment and rental housing industry. The acquisition will benefit both companies, allowing eBay to expand its online real estate category into the rental arena while enabling Rent.com to expand its business with the expertise & resources of eBay.

Based in Santa Monica, California, Rent.com launched nationally in October 2001 and has grown to become the most highly visited apartment listing site in the US. (comScore MediaMetrix 2004). Tortus Technologies’ Professional Services Group worked with Rent.com during the first quarter of 2001 to develop and implement a more efficient operating strategy throughout the organization. The new model was designed to allocate resources to ensure that Rent.com would have the time necessary to perfect its business model. As a result, Rent.com was able to successfully launch later that year.

About Rent.com
Rent.com, www.rent.com, is the only transaction-based Internet listing Web site in the apartment and rental housing industry. Its unique business model has made it the leading third-party producer of verified lease transactions in the county with listings in nearly 1,500 metropolitan areas. Rent.com is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

About Tortus Technologies
Tortus Technologies, www.tortus.com, is a business consulting and implementation firm which helps growing companies increase revenues, reduce costs and operate more efficiently by integrating traditional and Internet based solutions into their operations. Founded in 1996, Tortus has assisted hundreds of companies transition to optimized models enabling them to achieve greater ROI, enhance productivity and better manage customers with technology. Tortus Technologies is headquartered in West Springfield, MA.

For more information please contact:
Larri Cochran
Tortus Technologies
413.788.5080
lcochran@tortus.com