EBay Inc said yesterday it intends to pay as much as US$1.2 billion for a majority stake in South Korea’s top online marketplace, potentially one of the company’s largest acquisitions, as it moves to expand in Asia.
San Jose, California-based eBay and Gmarket Inc said that eBay would make a cash tender offer of US$24 a share to purchase all outstanding common shares and US depository shares in the South Korean company. If the tender is successful, eBay would take a stake of at least 67 percent in Gmarket.
“Asia is a very fast moving market, fast growing market,” John Pluhowski, an eBay vice president, said in Seoul. The proposed acquisition “also allows us to build a platform for growth in [South] Korea, but also in regions throughout Asia and beyond.”
Pluhowski said the acquisition would be “one of the largest since the company has been acquiring companies throughout the decade.”
EBay acquired Internet communications service Skype for US$2.6 billion in 2005 and online payment company PayPal for US$1.3 billion in 2002.
News of the Gmarket deal comes two days after eBay said it intends to spin off Skype through an initial public offering, undoing an acquisition that puzzled analysts and which eBay struggled to justify.
EBay and Gmarket, which is unlisted in South Korea, made the announcement in a statement handed out Thursday in South Korea and released late Wednesday in the US. It said the agreement calls for eBay to combine Gmarket with eBay’s existing online marketplace in South Korea, Internet Auction Company (IAC).
“The combination of Gmarket and IAC establishes an exceptionally strong leadership position for eBay in one of the world’s largest, most dynamic and innovative e-commerce markets,” eBay president and chief executive officer John Donahoe said in the release.
South Korea is the world’s sixth-largest e-commerce market after the US, Germany, the UK, China and Japan, the release said. EBay acquired IAC in 2001.
Park Joo-man, South Korean country manager for eBay, said that Gmarket and IAC had a combined market share of about 36 percent in South Korea as of last year.
Separately, Yahoo Inc announced it had agreed to sell its approximate 10 percent share in Gmarket to eBay as part of eBay’s announced tender offer. Yahoo said it would maintain its other operations in South Korea following the sale.
EBay and Gmarket said they expect the deal to be closed during the second quarter of this year, contingent on final regulatory approval in South Korea.
EBay said in September it had received preliminary approval from South Korean regulators for its potential purchase of a stake in Gmarket. At the time, however, the deal was focused on eBay acquiring what it said was 37 percent of Gmarket shares held by South Korean online shopping and auction site Interpark Corp and its chairman.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS