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Quote:EBay, the American online auction group, may be the mystery bidder behind a possible takeover of its smaller UK rival and dot-com survivor QXL Ricardo, which yesterday confirmed it had received a bid approach.

Shares in QXL Ricardo rose 10.6 per cent to £16.70 after the announcement, giving the online auctioneer a capitalisation of £771 million. That is still less than half its £1.7 billion value at the height of the dot-com boom in 2000, when its shares reached £37.

The FTSE 250-listed business said: “The company notes the recent movement in the company’s share price and confirms that it has received a preliminary approach which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company.” ...

full article: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/bu...827362.ece

QXL owns the number one auction sites in Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway,and has a strong presence in several Eastern European countries..

Update:

Quote:Naspers, the South African-based media group, has emerged as a surprise potential buyer of Tradus, the eastern European internet auction group formerly known as QXL Ricardo.

In November Tradus, which was capitalised at about £760m ($1.5bn) on Friday, said it had received a preliminary approach from an unnamed group. Neither party commented yesterday, but it is understood bid talks with Naspers are advanced and an agreement could be reached before Christmas...

full article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/68866a44-ac41-...fd2ac.html