Louisville-based CafePress acquired by Snapfish in San Francisco

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville-based e-commerce company now has new ownership.

Snapfish, a San Francisco-based supplier of personalized photos, has acquired Lousiville-based CafePress. The $26 million buyout, which was announced in September, was completed on Friday.

CafePress was founded in 1999 and makes custom t-shirts, photos, coffee mugs and other items from internet orders.

But the company has struggled with declining revenues for the last four years. The company posted a $10.2 million loss in 2017, after losing $26 million in 2016. In March, the company laid off 17 employees and parted ways with its chief operating officer. At the time, the company blamed search engine algorithm changes that had reduced its web traffic and said it was working on a redesigned site that would be more visible.

When plans for the merger were first announced in September, CafePress officials said the company would keep its Middletown location and its Riverport printing plant -- and that there would be no plans for any layoffs as a result of the merger.

CafePress has a workforce of roughly 200 employees.

In statements made in September, Jasbir Patel, CEO of Snapfish, and Fred Durham, founder and CEO of CafePress Inc., expressed optimism about the merger.

"We are looking forward to welcoming CafePress and its employees into the Snapfish organization and working with them during the next phases of each company's evolution," Patel said. "Since its beginning in 1999, CafePress has been a leader in print-on-demand, personalized and custom merchandise because of its design community and best-in-class manufacturing capabilities. We look forward to leveraging CafePress' highly efficient and innovative manufacturing process to further enhance our manufacturing capabilities. We are excited to combine our efforts to provide our customers more options and more value."

"Today marks a critical turning point in our pursuit to return CafePress to its market leading position in the personalized and expressive gift category," said Fred Durham, founder and CEO of CafePress, Inc., in a statement.

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