eBay Completes Acquisition of Australian Classifieds Sites

eBay completed the acquisition of Cox Australia, it said this week after announcing its intentions in December.

Cox Australia owns CarsGuide.com.au and Autotrader.com.au and will join eBay’s Gumtree business. The deal will create an attractive car-buying platform for Australian consumers, eBay said.

“By harnessing their collective strengths, the acquisition will create a comprehensive automotive ecosystem for dealers providing more reach, insights and tools. The three brands will maintain their own, unique buyer-facing experience and the joint proposition will deliver a seamless car buying experience for consumers and more value for our dealer partners.”

The Gumtree Australia business is a part of the eBay Classifieds Group (eCG) portfolio.

Activist investors have pressured eBay to sell its classifieds business, and eBay’s Scott Schenkel had told Wall Street analysts at the end of April that the company was in active discussions with multiple parties “exploring value creating alternatives.”

Schenkel said eBay would provide an update by its second-quarter earnings call in the middle of the year.

You can find the announcement on the eBay corporate blog.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.