Despite the meagre price tag, the acquisition of the business means the supermarket giant has a 64% stake in Anobii which boasts over 600,000 users worldwide and a library of 60,000 ebooks.

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said the deal supports its drive into the growing online and digital entertainment market. Luke Jensen, group development director at Sainsbury's, told the Financial Times: "We have been increasingly making our business cross-channel."

But the deal was also opportunistic because "it so happened that ...