NEW YORK — The online auction company eBay Inc. said Wednesday it is in talks to buy a minority stake in the South Korean online marketplace operator Gmarket.
The talks are with Interpark Corp. and its chairman, Ki Hyung Lee, who own a combined 37 percent of Gmarket. Yahoo Inc. also owns a stake in Gmarket.
A purchase would mark eBay’s latest move to capture the online auction market outside the United States.
The company says more than half of its revenue already comes from abroad.
Recommended for you
EBay already runs Korean online auction site Internet Auction. EBay’s other international auction forays include its ownership of a stake in Buenos Aires, Argentina-based MercadoLibre Inc. and re-entrance to the Japanese market with Yahoo Japan Corp., Yahoo’s joint venture with Softbank Corp.
EBay spokesman Jose Mallabo said that no definitive agreement has been reached or signed, but that a voluntary preliminary filing was made with the Korea Fair Trade Commission seeking preliminary approval.
"There can be no assurance that the KFTC will approve the possible transaction, that an agreement will be reached or that a transaction will occur,” Mallabo said.
In a June 13 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gmarket described Interpark as its largest shareholder.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.