eBay Acquires iBazar

Auction giant extends European presence.
February 22, 2001
David Lawlor

Further expanding its global reach, eBay announced it has acquired the French auction Website iBazar.com.

iBazar introduced its auction site in October 1998 and has become the overseas leader in its field with operations in Belgium, Brazil, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. The company has a total of 2.4 million registered users. During fourth quarter 2000, iBazar reported more than 3.1 million listings and gross sales of more than $95 million. Europe's total ecommerce revenues in 2000 were over $80 billion, according to projections by Forrester Research.

eBay says the estimated cost of the deal could top $112 million. The acquisition caps a series of deals the auction giant has forged over the past year. The company aligned with Andale, a Mountain View, Calif. company that offers automated sales management tools. Earlier this month, eBay aligned with eLance to provide customers a business services section on the eBay Website. In January 2001, eBay struck a deal with South Korea's Internet Auction for $120 million, aiding eBay in its international expansion.

The deal is still subject to approval from shareholders and governmental bodies.

eBay has been healthy of late; the company beat analysts' fourth-quarter expectations, increasing revenue 81 percent. In its current European ventures, eBay users generated over $137 million in gross merchandise sales.

"In this one strategic move they (eBay) significantly expand their European footprint," says Shawn Milne, an analyst at Wit SoundView.

The next step in eBay's European plan will be to link local Websites together into one continental destination connecting all of Europe – much like the company's national Website in the United States, Milne says.

That process will be complicated due to language barriers and differing currencies, though the integration of the Euro will help, Milne says. He expects the European market to continue to be eBay's primary expansion target outside the United States, followed by the Southeast Asian and South American regions respectively.