eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) will be taking over Gmarket, an online e-commerce company based in South Korea through a $1.2 billion deal.  As part of the deal Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) will be selling their 10% share in Gmarket to eBay.  The $1.2 billion will give eBay a 67% controlling stake in Gmarket.  eBay’s offer is at $24 per share.  This is 20% more than the closing price of $19.96 on the NASDAQ yesterday.

Gmarket would be rolled into Internet Auction Co., the Seoul-based company eBay owns.  This move more than doubles eBay’s sales footprint in South Korea.  Gmarket’s revenue was about $210 million last year.  The value of the goods sold on their website increased 23% over the last year.  In the fourth quarter, eBay made about $1.27 billion.

Interpark Corp., another major shareholder in Gmarket sold their 14.6 million shares to eBay for $350 million as part of the agreement.  After the deal closes, eBay plans to de-list Gmarket from the NASDAQ.  However the auction company plans to spin out Skype through a separate IPO sometime in the next year.

[via Bloomberg]

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) is reportedly negotiating to buy stake in GMarket Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GMKT)GMarket has solid market share in online auctions for the Korean market.  Interpark Corporation owns 37% stake in GMarket and eBay wants it.  eBay is primarily talking with Interpark Chairman Ki Hyung Lee.

eBay also made a preliminary filing with the Korea Trade Commission requesting approval for the transaction.  There isn’t any assurance about whether the transaction will be completed.  GMarket is partially owned by Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO).  eBay has a division called Internet Auction, a competitor of GMarket in Korea.

Interpark has been shopping for buyers in their GMarket stake since 2007.  GMarket made $35.6 million in profit and $238.3 million in revenues last year.

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