According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal dated 4th February 2020, e-commerce giant eBay is reportedly in talks with Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of Bitcoin exchange Bakkt, for a massive multi-billion dollar acquisition plan.
When Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicted that the year 2020 would see a massive increase in acquisitions, we did brace ourselves for some exciting news. It started with payments company Visa announcing its plan to acquire fintech startup Plaid in a deal valued at over five billion US dollars ($5.3 billion). Moreover, payments app Paypal and deals provider company Honey finalized their acquisition deal at four billion US dollars ($4 billion).
Intercontinental Exchange sets its eyes on eBay
Now, it is very likely that Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of leading exchanges in the US market, including Bitcoin futures trading company Bakkt and New York Stock Exchange, has made an offer, which is believed to be worth a whopping thirty billion US dollars ($30 billion), to American online retailer eBay and expressed its interest in taking over this multinational corporation.
Per WSJ’s post, ICE intends to tap its technical prowess and market knowledge to eBay’s core business of online retailing and help the company become a world leader in online shopping, quite literally, selling everything under the sun.
Is eBay ready for brand new ownership?
Although both companies have not confirmed the rumors surrounding the closely-monitored purchase announcement yet, implying that there is no way to know, for now, whether or not eBay agrees to accept ICE’s offer, many industry experts believe that eBay is, in fact, preparing for a change of ownership for a long time.
Last year in November, it was approached by the Swiss online ticket reseller Viagogo with a four billion US dollars ($4 billion) worth deal for purchasing eBay-owned Stubhub, a ticket exchange company.
Today, the online shopping site eBay is valued at over twenty-eight billion US dollars ($28 billion) with its stocks giving a consistent yet profit-yielding performance, witnessing a ten percent (10%) rise in the past few months. Thus, ICE’s offer worth thirty billion does make for an impressive deal.
Moreover, it is believed that ICE has set its eyes on eBay’s marketing domain and is reportedly not interested in remodeling its classified businesses. Besides, Intercontinental Exchange’s offer comes at a time when the world is struggling to cope up with rising economic uncertainties, trade wars, and political tensions which has pressurized several companies to look beyond their traditional means of business and diversify their portfolio, all suggesting that eBay-ICE acquisition might become a reality soon.
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