Hearst to acquire shoppers' site Kaboodle

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Publisher Hearst Corp., seeking to tap into a fast-growing corner of the Internet which draws millions of consumers each month, will announce the acquisition of Kaboodle Inc., a Web site where shoppers can network and make recommendations, on Wednesday.

Terms of the deal are not being disclosed, a spokeswoman for privately held Kaboodle said.

Hearst is likely to build pages on Kaboodle featuring products from many of its 19 U.S. magazine titles, such as Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the acquisition on its Web site.

Santa Clara, California-based Kaboodle, operator of Kaboodle.com, has more than two million U.S. unique monthly visitors.

The site generates revenue through fees for advertisements placed on its site but Hearst plans to expand this area by linking the site with deep-pocketed advertisers, as well as adding greater editorial content, according to the Journal report.

No one at Hearst could be reached immediately for comment.

The acquisition comes after Hearst last month announced it was buying UGO Networks Inc., a network of Web sites devoted to video games, movies and other entertainment, as it sought a bigger chunk of the male Internet audience.