The US eBay headquarters is promoting the sale of eBay Korea, which operates Gmarket, Auction, and G9.
If successful, it is predicted that the ranking of the domestic online shopping mall market will change, and it is emerging as an interest in which companies will have eBay Korea.
On the 19th (local time), eBay headquarters said, “We have begun the process of evaluating, reviewing, and exploring a wide range of strategic alternatives to our Korean business.” “Reviewing options to maximize value for shareholders and create future growth opportunities for our business Middle”.
The sale of eBay Korea has continued since last year. However, this time, for the first time, eBay headquarters made a related position.
Lotte Group is the most likely candidate to take over eBay.
The online shopping platform’Lotteon’, which appeared as a major business of Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin, has not yet established a proper position. Therefore, if Lotte acquires eBay Korea, it is expected that it will be able to take the first place in the e-commerce market and solve the online system, which was considered relatively weak.
In addition, Shinsegae is also considered a strong candidate. Shinsegae recently actively recruited executives from eBay Korea, and has focused on planting the DNA of eBay. If you embrace eBay Korea this time, you can secure your competitors’ success DNA and quickly become the No. 1 in e-commerce.
The Hyundai Department Store Group, which operates The Hyundai.com and H Mall, is also mentioned. Compared to offline, you can aim for a turnaround online, which is relatively less competitive than offline.
In the investment banking (IB) industry, private equity funds with abundant funding are also considered candidates. US private equity fund manager Coleberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Affinity Equity Partners that have invested in SSG.com are discussed. MBK Partners, the major shareholder of Homeplus, is also the target.
However, the problem is the size of the estimated ransom price of 5 trillion won. It is said to change the market game, but it is because a premature acquisition can lead to a winner’s curse.
In addition, the evaluation that eBay Corea’s growth is not as good as before is also holding back. EBay Korea’s operating profit has been gradually decreasing since 2017. Operating profit from KRW 62.3 billion in 2017 decreased to KRW 61.5 billion in 2019.
EBay said, “We will not officially comment on ongoing issues until the strategy review is complete and a final decision is made.”
Earlier, the US Bloomberg News reported that “eBay is temporarily promoting the sale of eBay Korea.” According to Bloomberg, eBay’s global sales were $10.8 billion in 2019, of which 11% were made in Korea.