Yahoo’s acquisition of Polyvore cost it around $200 million

Yahoo wanted to get in on the discovery commerce trend and paid up to get there. The online media company paid around $200 million in cash to acquire fashion site Polyvore in an acquisition announced Friday, according to multiple sources familiar with the deal. Yahoo could end up coughing up around $40 million on top of that in employee retention payouts, one of these sources said. The companies did not disclose the sale price when it was announced last week. The deal is a solid outcome for Polyvore, which launched in 2007 and has essentially become a visual search engine for clothing and outfits. The site’s most active users provide a ton of the content on the site by arranging images of clothing into outfits and sets of outfits. Some fashion brands pay Polyvore to feature their collections, while other brands pay to promote certain fashion trends or individual products. Polyvore also generates revenue through affiliate fees when one of its visitors goes on to buy an item found on Polyvore on another shopping site.