Naver buys Poshmark for $ 1.2 billion

The Korean internet giant Naver acquired Poshmarka platform for American second-hand purchases, for 1.2 billion dollars. It is the largest acquisition in Naver’s history and a push towards global expansion.

Naver acquires Poshmark for $ 1.2 billion

Someone calls it the “Google of South Korea“. Naver started out as a search engine, then expanded into email, messaging, news aggregation and e-commerce services. Its apps and main site are among the most used in Korea.

But the acquisition of Poshmark expands the horizons dthe Naver to North Americato. The company has already targeted Japan and other countries in the area, especially with the messaging app Line. But already in 2021 he had acquired the Canadian Wattpad, a platform for writing and reading original stories, for 600 million dollars.

Naver also bought the research center Xerox in France, demonstrating already in 2017 that it has global ambitions.

Naver will pay $ 17.90 per share, 15% higher than the closing price on Monday for Poshmark. But far less than the value of when Poshmark first hit the stock market, when the shares they were worth 42 dollars.

The CEO Manish Chandra di Poshmark will remain at the helm of the group. The platform has over 80 million registered users between United States, Canada, Australia and India. The company in 2021 declared revenues of 326 million euros, up by 24% compared to last year. But with operating losses of $ 98 million.

This purchase marks the interest that digital giants have in platforms that combine social media and e-commerce, especially in areas such as second-hand.

Source

The New York Times