Google paid $125 million for Zagat: WSJ

NEW YORK: Internet search and advertising giant Google paid around $125 million for restaurant review guide Zagat, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Google announced the acquisition on Thursday but did not disclose how much it paid for Zagat Survey, which provides reviews of restaurants, hotels and other attractions in more than 100 cities around the world.

Announcing the purchase, Google vice president Marissa Mayer said Zagat "will be a cornerstone of our local offering -- delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights."

The Mountain View, California-based Google is expected to integrate Zagat's reviews with its popular online services such as Google Maps.

Zagat, which relies on more than 350,000 contributors around the world but has only 100 full-time employees, has been facing competition online from free restaurant review sites such as Yelp and has been for sale since January 2008.

Press reports at the time said Zagat was seeking $200 million.

Google's acquisition of Zagat comes nearly two years after it failed in a bid to buy Yelp.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011