EBay plans to buy e-commerce company GSI Commerce for $1.96 billion in cash in a bid to draw more buyers and sellers to its online marketplaces and win more business from large store chains.
EBay said today it had offered GSI shareholders $29.25 per share, a 50.9% premium over its closing price on Friday.
GSI owns businesses such as Rue La La, which offers one-day-only web deals to its members, and ShopRunner, a members-only online shopping service that offers free shipping. It also provides retailers with technology, payment processing and customer care services for their e-commerce sites.
For eBay, GSI is attractive because of its expertise in taking customer orders, managing them, and sending them out, an area in which online retail rival Amazon.com excels, analysts say.
But GSI's services are also a way for eBay to woo large retailers looking to beef up their electronic capabilities, eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe told analysts.
'What GSI Commerce in essence does is enable large sellers, large retailers and brands, to meet buyers successfully and effectively. So, GSI fits squarely in our strategy,' he said.
As part of the deal, eBay will sell off GSI's licensed sports merchandise business and 70% of ShopRunner and Rue La La, which will all become part of a new holding company run by GSI's founder and chief executive Michael Rubin.
EBay will lend Rubin's new company $467m. Including the loan, eBay said the deal was worth $2.4 billion. EBay said those businesses were not important to its long-term growth strategy.
