Best Buy snaps up Speakeasy

What with razor-thin margins and the rise of the Internet, consumer electronics stores like Best Buy are faced with adding services to differentiate themselves from each other and add value. Best Buy, for instance, just bought itself an ISP that's well-known for providing VoIP service: the Seattle-based Speakeasy. Best Buy's paying $97 million for Speakeasy, which had $80 million in earnings last year--not bad for a company that started as an Internet café. It now has 40,000 customers and 300 employees. Speakeasy will now operate as part of the Best Buy for Business division.

For more about the Best Buy purchase of Speakeasy:
- read the PC World article