The publishing giant, Axel Springer, sets his sights on eBay listings

Europe's largest publisher, Axel Springer, wants to buy the clbadifieds business from eBay, the German specialty magazine Capital city reports.

In early March, eBay announced that it had agreed with investors Elliott Management and Starboard Value to consider selling or selling some of its growth-enhancing non-core businesses, such as the eBay Clbadifieds Group and the ticket portal. StubHub. This caught the attention of the Berlin publisher.

"It is clear that we are interested," said a source from Axel Springer at Capital city. Industry observers expect a purchase price of about $ 10 billion, which suggests that the publisher of the largest German newspaper, the infamous tabloid Bild, would team up with a financial investor, as was the case in past operations.

Axel Springer achieved in 2018 a turnover of 3.2 billion euros (3.6 billion dollars), up 4.1% compared to 2017, of which 70% in the digital . Its clbadifieds business accounted for 38% of this revenue. The sector grew more than 20% in 2018, while its information division accounted for 47% of Axel Springer's revenue, but declined by almost 1% over this period.

eBay as a whole achieved revenue of $ 10.7 billion in 2018, up 8% from 2017. The revenue from its ad group comes mainly from outside the United States, with 10 brands, including Gumtree and Kijiji, active in 25 countries. In Germany, eBay Kleinanzeigen is much more popular than Craigslist, registering over a billion ads published since 2009. Capital city reports that eBay Clbadifieds Group achieved a turnover of more than $ 1 billion in 2018, of which more than half came from the German market.

Axel Springer recently entered the English-language digital market, holding a 50% stake in Politico Europe and acquiring a majority stake in Business Insider for $ 343 million in 2015. He even attempted to make an offer of $ 39 billion for the group. Financial Times, that the London company has declined.