I started researching Qoo10 six months ago as I had not heard of the company. A Singapore-based marketplace operator who acquired Wish for $173M. When I think of South Korea, I think about the market leader Coupang, who acquired Farfetch in a market that contains some of the most sophisticated consumers in the world. I believe only Chinese consumers are more sophisticated than those in South Korea.

Years earlier, I heard about Gmarket, which eBay acquired in 2009 for $1.2B. Gmarket was one if not the most important assets eBay acquired to grow its international business. Gmarket was one of the companies I heard of behind closed doors. In 2021, eBay changed its global philosophy and started selling assets to exclusively focus on its most important assets. eBay sold a majority stake in its Korean business to Emart for $3.6B in 2021. eBay retained a 19.99% holding of its Korean companies, including G-Market, IAC, and G-9.

Source: Emart

I mention Gmarket and its demise from market leadership to being another competitor to Coupang as an example of how quickly a market changes due to mergers and acquisitions activity happening.

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