Britain's QXL.COM, specialised in on-line auctions, has taken over its German rival RICARDO.DE (DM 40 million turnover for the financial year 1999/2000) for 1.1 bn euro through an exchange of shares. For one RICARDO share, the shareholders of the German start-up firm will receive 42.6 QXL shares and control 43.8% of the new entity. The latter will be called QXL RICARDO PLC and, with 1.3 million members, will become Europe's number one in the sector.