- eBay to sell majority of its stake in online commerce platform in Latin America, MercadoLibre, Inc.
San Jose, California, 2016-Oct-14 — /EPR Retail News/ —We regularly review and actively manage our investment portfolio to ensure that our investments support the company’s strategic direction and complement our disciplined approach to value creation, profitability and capital allocation. Against this backdrop, eBay has decided to sell the majority of its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc., an online commerce platform in Latin America. The sale will enable us to realize a significant gain on our investment, and we intend to use the net proceeds in a manner consistent with our capital allocation strategy. Additional financial details pertaining to the transaction will be addressed on our Q3 2016 earnings call and in our upcoming Form 10-Q.
eBay and MercadoLibre have a strong, long-standing relationship. We entered into a strategic agreement with MercadoLibre in 2001, when MercadoLibre acquired iBazar Com Ltda, the Brazilian subsidiary of iBazar SA, which previously had been acquired by eBay. In return for MercadoLibre’s acquisition of iBazar Com Ltda, eBay received an ownership interest in MercadoLibre. Our relationship has helped advance eBay’s strategy in the region and allowed both companies to share best practices. The continuation of our relationship is underscored by our announcement today of a new strategic agreement with MercadoLibre that is designed to advance eBay’s cross-border trading business opportunities for its sellers who are targeting buyers in Latin America.
eBay’s commitment to Latin America remains unchanged as a result of this transaction. We are focused on providing consumers in the region with access to our extensive supply of distinct inventory from all over the world that cannot always be found in the local market.
Contact:
United States: press@ebay.com
Canada: canada.press@ebay.com
Source: eBay
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