eBay’s sale of its Classifieds Group to Adevinta hit a snag last month due to regulators in the UK. The two companies agreed this week to sell three of their UK units – Shpock, Gumtree (UK), and Motors.co.uk – in order to meet with regulatory approval.
eBay said it remained “excited” about the proposed combination of Adevinta and eBay Classifieds Group.
On Monday, eBay said that in 2019, eBay Classifieds Group’s UK business accounted for less than 10% of its consolidated revenues, and Adevinta’s UK business accounted for 1% of its consolidated revenues. On a combined basis, the UK would represent less than 5% of total consolidated revenues.
The companies now expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2021 (April – June), subject to final ratification of the remedies execution plan by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and receipt of outstanding regulatory approval in Austria.
eBay had announced the deal with Adevinta in July for a total consideration valued at approximately $9.2 billion. It said at the time that the combined group would have solid market positions across 20 markets, covering 1 billion people with 3 billion monthly visits. eBay did not update the statistic this week based on the divestiture of the UK units.
You can find eBay’s announcement on the eBay corporate website.
