The Global Media Weekly for executives and entrepreneurs

eBay auction is hot

eBay has reportedly received initial bids of $8-10bn for its classifieds business, with interest reported to be coming from global competitors and private equity including: Axel Springer (now backed by KKR), Naspers, Adevinta (formerly part of Schibsted), and a consortium of Blackstone, Permira and Hellman & Friedman.

eBay is responding to pressure from investors and already disposed of its ticketing resales business, StubHub in 2019. Pre-Covid, the classifieds business, including the Gumtree brand, was widely thought to have a value of about $10bn. But Bank of America’s recent valuation of $8.3bn had implied a 21x multiple of estimated 2021 profits of $389m.

The initial bids indicate that these digital classifieds businesses have not lost any of their investor appeal during Covid.

eBay