Tech Shout!

Web auction leader, eBay is apparently in talks to acquire San-Francisco-based StumbleUpon Inc., and Internet company that helps people discover Web pages that match their interests.

According to sources who are familiar with the matter have said that the potential price for the deal could well be in the range of $75 million.

In fact, on of the people even said that as of now, no final agreement has been reached and the talks could also fall apart if the companies do not agree on certain issues. An eBay spokesman however said that the company does not wish to comment on rumors as of now.

According to Garrett Camp, StumbleUpon’s chief software architect, “ I really don’t want to comment.”

StumbleUpon is an online review web site that recommends interesting pages within sites such as Flickr, MySpace, or YouTube. These recommendations are based on the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” votes of other Web users with shared interests.

StumbleUpon, which presently has around 2.3 million users, combines a social review site with search features and as such present an alternative to Web search leader Google.

The reason why eBay probably wishes to buy off StumbleUpon may be because the recommendation features built into the service (StumbleUpon) could well serve as a referral system for eBay users to locate Web auctions that interest them.