Fashion
US-headquartered eBay has bought out its partners in the Japanese e-commerce business Qoo10.
According to regulatory filings seen by US media, eBay has paid US$306 million in cash for Qoo10’s Singapore-headquartered parent Giosis and relinquished its existing equity holding.
In July 2015, eBay was a partner in a founding round lead by Singapore Press Holdings, and also including Saban Capital Group, UVM 2 Venture Investments LP, Brookside Capital and Oak Investment Partners, which raised $182 million. eBay was an original founding investor.
At the time, Qoo10 operated six online e-commerce marketplaces across Asia – in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. It had 17.6 million registered users across the region and a combined turnover of more than US$408 million in 2014.
eBay’s investment this month would value Giosis at $573 million, given the cash paid combined with eBay’s shareholding of $266 million.
Earlier this year, when flagging the proposed purchase, eBay CFO Scott Schenkel projected Qoo10 would generate about $1 billion in gross merchandise volume per year, a fraction of eBay’s circa $100 billion expected this year.
