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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

+business

Ikea has acquired TaskRabbit [wikipedia.org] to gain an army of people that can assemble other people's furniture [nytimes.com]:

Ikea, the Swedish home goods retailer, said on Thursday that it had agreed to acquire TaskRabbit, a company known for, among other things, sending tool-wielding workers to rescue customers befuddled by build-it-yourself furniture kits.

Ikea said that it had signed an agreement [ikea.com] to acquire the privately held TaskRabbit but declined to say how much it would pay. TaskRabbit will continue to operate independently once the deal closes, expected in October.

TaskRabbit uses its online marketplace to connect 60,000 freelance workers, or "taskers," with people looking to hire someone to do chores like furniture assembly, moving and handyman fixes. In their listings, workers specify their hourly rates.

"In a fast-changing retail environment, we continuously strive to develop new and improved products and services to make our customers' lives a little bit easier," said Jesper Brodin, chief executive of Ikea. "Entering the on-demand, sharing economy enables us to support that."

Also at CBS [cbsnews.com] and Newsweek [newsweek.com].

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