(Bloomberg) -- EBay Inc., operator of the most visited U.S. e-commerce site, offered to buy South Korea’s Gmarket Inc. for $1.2 billion to expand overseas.
EBay will make a cash offer to buy all outstanding shares of Gmarket for $24 apiece, the San Jose, California-based company said in a Business Wire statement. Under an agreement with Gmarket’s management and investors, the U.S. company will own at least 67 percent of the South Korean company, it said.
The purchase may help EBay, whose sales declined for the first time last quarter, more than double revenue in South Korea. EBay said it plans to combine operations at Gmarket, which generated revenue of about $220.8 million last year, with those of Seoul-based EBay subsidiary Internet Auction Co.
Yahoo! Inc. said it agreed to sell its stake of about 10 percent to EBay, while Seoul-based Interpark Corp. said in a regulatory filing it sold 14.6 million shares of Gmarket for $350 million. Other investors that have agreed to sell include Interpark Chief Executive Officer Lee Ki Hyung, EBay said.
EBay fell 0.4 percent to $14.32 yesterday in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Gmarket rose 3.2 percent to $19.96.
Read more at Bloomberg
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