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| eBay Korea with its Korean online retailers' logos / Korea Times file |
By Kim Jae-heun
American multinational e-commerce corporation eBay is in the process of selling its Korean online retail platforms G-Market, Auction and G9 for an estimated 5 trillion won.
According to reports, Wednesday, eBay said it has "initiated a process to explore, review, and evaluate a range of strategic alternatives for its Korean business. The company is considering options that would maximize value for its shareholders and create future growth opportunities for the business."
Ebay has 183 million active users and 11 percent of its annual sales comes from Korea.
eBay has been reviewing the sale of its Korean e-commerce platforms over the past few years, but this is the first time that the company has officially confirmed it.
An eBay Korea official also said that its headquarters in the U.S. is in the process of selling its Korean businesses.
"From last week, we heard there is going to be an announcement made by our headquarters in the United States. Given that it said it was considering a variety of options, it seems to be in the process of selling the platforms," an eBay Korea official said.
Shareholders of eBay are said to have pressured the company to make such a choice.
"I don't think it has anything to do with Coupang, which plans to go public in the first half of this year and eBay's shareholders just wanted immediate profits or dividends. I think they requested headquarters to sell the Korean businesses," an industry official said.
Meanwhile, major changes are expected to happen in the local e-commerce market when G-Market, Auction and G9 are put on the block. Acquiring those three platforms can instantly catapult any player to become one of the top three e-commerce platforms in Korea.
eBay Korea's gross merchandise value was estimated at 19 trillion won as of 2019, accounting for 14 percent of Korea's online shopping market valued at 135 trillion won, according to Statistics Korea.
That same year, eBay Korea's revenue surpassed 1 trillion won for the first time to 1.09 trillion won and its business performance is expected to have improved in 2020.
eBay Korea is the only e-commerce firm that has been profiting from the business here for 15-consecutive years. Rivals Coupang, TMON and SSG.com are still in the red.
Mirae Asset's data showed eBay Korea ranked at No.1 in terms of domestic market share, surpassing Coupang, 11st, WeMakePrice and SSG.com until 2019. Coupang grabbed the top spot last year, but this did not include Naver Shopping.
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