BuyWithMe Scoops Up LocalTwist for Larger U.S. Daily Deals Presence

In a letter sent to customers this evening, LocalTwist confirmed that it has been purchased by BuyWithMe, a competitive daily deals site.

San Carlos, Calif.-based LocalTwist told customers: “We’re so excited to let you know that we’ve been purchased by BuyWithMe, a premier national group buying site that will help you experience even more daily deals.”

UPDATE: In a press release issued Friday morning confirming the acquisition, BuyWithMe said it will allow them to enter both the Seattle and San Diego markets. It did not disclose a price, but said LocalTwist is a division of LifeStreet Media. Mitchell Weisman, CEO of LifeStreet, said the sale of the daily deals division will allow it to focus on operating as an advertising network on Facebook.

In the coming days, customers will receive more detailed information, but the two companies promise that very little will change, except that there will be that more “bigger and better local deals” coming. Already, the website has been updated to say LocalTwist, a division of BuyWithMe.

A message from BuyWithMe’s CEO Jim Crowley added that LocalTwist customers can also look forward to a new iPhone and Android applications, and other social features that will allow you to share deals with your friends and family.

We’ve reached out to BuyWithMe to get more of the details.

Together, it appears that the two companies will cover roughly 30 cities, although it’s unclear how much overlap the two will have. With Groupon and LivingSocial’s aggressive growth plans, consolidation makes sense as some of the smaller competitors try to keep up.

Over the past few months, BuyWithMe has been going through a management shake-up. Crowley was hired in January after the New York-based startup lost its high-profile CEO Cheryl Rosner, who was formerly of TicketsNow and Expedia. At that time, it was also struggling to expand successfully beyond a handful of markets, and was also likely to raise more cash.

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