eBay Acquires eCommerce Platform Qoo10 Of Japan

In its 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), eBay said it completed the acquisition of Giosis Pte. Ltd.’s Japan business, which includes the Qoo10 platform, for $306 million in cash, and relinquished its existing equity method in Giosis.

Reportedly, the total value of the deal is $573 million, based on the $306 million cash price and shares in the company valued at $266 million.

Qoo10 was created as a hyperlocal marketplace that allowed large and small merchants to sell their products across Asia. During an April quarterly conference call, eBay CFO Scott Schenkel said the acquisition of the platform would generate $1 billion in gross merchandise volume per year. During the first quarter, eBay reported gross merchandise volume of about $23.6 billion, a 13 percent increase from year-ago figures.

Giosis is the Singapore-based parent of Qoo10, a leading eCommerce platform in Japan. In 2015, Giosis landed $82.1 million in Series A financing led by eBay and Singapore Press Holdings. That funding round also included Saban Capital Group, UVM 2 Venture Investments L.P., Brookside Capital and Oak Investment Partners.

The platform was originally launched in 2010 as a venture between eBay and Young Bae Ku, the founder of Gmarket. eBay had previously acquired Gmarket in 2009. At the time of the 2015 funding round, the platform had expanded to more than 17.6 million registered users across Asia, including sales in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore.

Separately, eBay had previously announced plans to replace its former PayPal unit with Netherlands-based Adyen, which would become its new payment processor, part of a strategy to put payments between buyers and sellers under the eBay umbrella and provide eBay with more data about sellers. PayPal would, however, remain a payment option until 2023.

Officials from eBay were not immediately available for comment.