eBay sells Gumtree and other classifieds brands to Norway's Adevinta

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 22, 2020

E-tail giant eBay has sold its Classifieds Group that includes Gumtree, its British-based business, to Norwegian rival Adevinta. 

The $9.2 billion cash and shares deal sees the Oslo-based firm paying $2.5 billion in cash. eBay is also getting more than half a billion shares of the new owner, which means eBay is now the largest shareholder in Adevinta with a 44% stake.

Gumtree, which contains a mixture of free and paid classified ads, is a major source of secondhand items and includes fashion and beauty. It launched in 2000 with a focus initially on London-based travellers from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia seeking flat shares and secondhand furniture. eBay bought the company in 2005.

The wider eBay Classifieds Group includes a big variety of brands such as Mobile.de, Marktplaats, dba, Bilbasen, Kijiji, 2dehands, 2ememain, Vivanuncios and more.

For Adevinta, the purchase of the business boosts its presence in multiple countries, including the biggest five European markets, the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. The deal means its revenues will be $1.8 billion and pre-tax earnings will be almost $600 million.

eBay has been under pressure for some time to take action to focus on its core marketplace product and to boost its overall results. This pressure has also seen it selling Stubhub to Viagogo, although that deal (which is worth more than $4 billion) could still be derailed by competition authorities.

Despite eBay selling Gumtree and the other brands, the businesses operates in a sector that has significant growth potential, particularly after the pandemic saw digital listings businesses seeing a surge in traffic.