EBay Closes Sales Of Classifieds Business To Adevinta; Lifts FY21 Share Repurchase Plan

(RTTNews) - eBay Inc. (EBAY), a commerce company, announced Friday that it has completed the transfer of its Classifieds business to Adevinta in exchange for $2.5 billion in cash and a 44% equity stake in Adevinta, equivalent to approximately 540 million shares.

The completion of the deal results in after tax net cash proceeds of approximately $2 billion. The company expects the combination of Adevinta and eBay Classifieds will create a major global online classifieds business.

Further, with this transfer complete, eBay is updating its capital allocation plans for 2021 by increasing its estimated share buyback to $5.0 billion from $2.0 billion .

The company has agreed to reduce its ownership stake in Adevinta to 33% or less over the next 18 months, as part of remedies it proposed to resolve the competition concerns raised by the Austrian regulatory authorities. Ebay said the proceeds from this reduction will be deployed in a manner consistent with its capital allocation tenets and targets.

Jamie Iannone, Chief Executive Officer, eBay, said, "By joining Adevinta, the eBay Classifieds' business has an enormous opportunity ahead. We are optimistic that the breadth of talent and collective experience across the combined portfolio will offer additional value for our customers, employees and shareholders."