A couple of small Web 2.0 deals are being talked about Wednesday, one that has closed, and one that's about to.

Hearst Corp. is acquiring Kaboodle Inc., a combination online shopping and social networking site. Terms were not disclosed, though TechCrunch is reporting that the price paid is in excess of $30 million. In a twist to other online price comparison Web sites that offer product opinions from consumers, Kaboodle encourages users to share recommendations with others and to discover new products from people with similar tastes and style. The most interesting product found while researching this blog post: the Banana Bunker. Although it looks like something you might be embarrassed to buy at a drugstore, it actually protects bananas that are packed in lunch bags or a backpack from getting bruised. Brilliant! Among Kaboodle's investors are Shea Ventures LLC, Garage Technology Ventures and Groupe Alpha.

An acquisition on the horizon is of social bookmarking site Clipmarks by Forbes Inc. VentureBeat reported the acquisition last night, but Clipmarks co-founder and CEO Eric Goldstein calls the announcement premature, stating that the company has been meeting with people at Forbes for the past few months and “that we’re still working to make this happen.” Clipmarks helps people save and share things they find on the Web. Its browser add-on lets you clip text, images and videos from inside Web pages, then save, blog, e-mail or print whatever you've clipped. —David Shabelman

See TechCrunch post
See April 2006 item on Kaboodle in TheDeal.com
See VentureBeat post
See Eric Goldstein post

Tags: web 2.0, media, vc, venture+capital, acquisition, deals, m&a, mergers