The online retail behemoth Amazon Inc. (NYSE: AMZN) announced Monday that the company would be buying Kiva Systems Inc. which is a developer of robots used operate shipping centers. The deal was stated to be $775 million in cash and the deal comes as Amazon continues heavy spending on facilities to bulk up the company’s own business. Amazon stated that the deal was expected to close in the second quarter of 2012.
Kiva Systems technology has been used by the many retailers which includes Crate and Barrel, GAP as well as Diapers.com. A spokeswoman from Amazon stated that the company will continue to provide the technology from Kiva to support the existing customers.
According to S&P Capital IQ, this new acquisition of Kiva Systems is the second largest ever from Amazon. The largest ever was for Zappos.com in 2009 of which Amazon paid $894.6 million.
Dave Clark, Amazon vice president of global customer fulfillment stated, “Amazon has long used automation in its fulfillment centers and keep this technology is another way to improve productivity by bringing the products directly to employees to pick, pack and stow.”
When contacted, Mick Mountz, the chief executive for Kiva Systems did not respond for comment.
This new automated shipping system looks to fix problems like the 57% decline in fourth-quarter profit as the company invested in facilities such as data centers and fulfillment centers. In that time Amazon built 17 new fulfillment centers which brings the total up to 69. The company is planning for further facility construction later on this year as well.
This all comes as Amazon is dealing with growing demands from several individual states to start collecting sales tax for goods that customers purchase online. Amazon has tried offering new fulfillment centers as well as jobs in exchange for more wiggle room while the related federal legislation is still being drawn up.
