CitySearch, a local information provider with national aspirations, will today acquire Metrobeat, publisher of a popular New York City information Web guide, according to The New York Times.
CitySearch, with backing from Goldman, Sachs, AT&T Ventures, and several private investors, is attempting to create a national chain of local Web-based city guides. The company already operates sites in Raleigh-Duram, North Carolina, and Pasadena, California, and plans to establish sites in some 30 cities by the end of 1997.
But the company will soon find itself fending off some deep-pocketed competitors, most notably Microsoft, which plans to open a similar service in New York and several other cities sometime next year. Microsoft also made an unsuccessful bid to acquire Metrobeat, according to the Times.
No terms of the acquisition were disclosed.
