eBay is buying Cox Automotive Media Solutions to add to its Classifieds portfolio in Australia. According to Thursday’s announcement:
“Today, eBay has agreed to acquire Cox Automotive Media Solutions, which owns CarsGuide.com.au and Autotrader.com.au, leading automotive platforms that make it easier to review, buy and sell cars in Australia. Subject to deal close, the two consumer brands will join the Gumtree Australia business, a part of the eBay Classifieds Group (eCG) portfolio.”
eBay owns a number of classifieds brands, including Gumtree, which was founded in 2000 and acquired by eBay in 2005. It operates in Australia, UK, South Africa, Singapore, Ireland, and Poland. You can find more information about eBay’s other classifieds sites on eBayClassifiedsGroup.com.
The executive who heads eBay Classifieds Group, Alessandro Coppo, said the acquisition announced yesterday is part of eBay’s “verticalization strategy” in the automotive market. He noted eBay’s acquisition of Motors.co.uk from Cox Automotive in the UK in February.
“Gumtree is already an established player in the Australian private sales market, and the addition of CarsGuide.com.au and Autotrader.com.au will make our offerings even more compelling by giving Australian consumers and dealers more reach and choice in market,” Coppo said.
Autotrader.com.au has about 2,300 dealers and approximately 90,000 listings.
eBay’s Gumtree has approximately 1,800 dealers and about 80,000 private-party listings, according to the announcement – (that appears to be a reference to Gumtree’s Australian market).
eBay has considered selling its classifieds business unit after activist investors initiated a campaign in January to pressure eBay to consider selling the Classifieds Group as well as its StubHub tickets marketplace. Last month, eBay announced it was selling StubHub for $4.05 billion.
You can find Thursday’s announcement on the eBay corporate blog on eBayInc.com.
