eBay and PChome Online to Form Joint Venture in Taiwan

[mandy]

eBay and PChome Online to Form Joint Venture in Taiwan

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) and PChome Online (TWO: 8044) announced today that they have agreed to form a joint venture in Taiwan. Under the agreement, the companies will leverage eBay's global experience and PChome Online's local ecommerce expertise to launch a new co-branded website that will bring new online trading opportunities to buyers and sellers in Taiwan.

Focused on the needs of Taiwan consumers, the new website will specialize in online auction-style trading and will also offer the ability to buy and sell at a fixed price. eBay and PChome Online will share best practices to develop a new shopping experience that offers enhanced features to the Taiwan Internet community. The new website will be managed locally by PChome Online and will replace both PChome Online's existing auction channel and the eBay Taiwan site.

"This partnership is a remarkable milestone for PChome Online," said Hung Tze Jan, chairman of PChome Online. "eBay is one of the world's most recognized ecommerce brands and PChome Online is an Internet pioneer with great successes in Taiwan ecommerce. Together, we can create a new online trading site that caters to the needs of Taiwan's Internet users."

"We're excited about teaming up with PChome Online," said Matt Bannick, president of eBay International. "PChome Online is the right partner to help us transform online shopping in Taiwan. We look forward to working together for the benefit of our local communities of users."

Launched in 1998, PChome Online is the number two Internet portal and the leading ecommerce website in Taiwan. A pioneer of Taiwan ecommerce with more than 10 million members, PChome Online offers a full range of shopping services, including a traditional retail channel, a business-to-consumer shopping channel, and a consumer-to-consumer auction-style site. PChome Online's shopping sites feature an array of products including women's clothing and accessories, consumer electronics, software and books. In addition, PChome Online is the local partner of Skype, eBay's online voice communications business.

eBay does not expect the joint venture to have a material impact on 2006 net revenues and earnings per share, and does not expect it to affect eBay's financial guidance as issued in connection with its first quarter earnings release on April 19, 2006.

The joint venture agreement is subject to various closing conditions and is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

No further terms of the agreement were disclosed.

About PChome Online

PChome Online was established in 1998 and has grown to be a benchmark Internet service provider in Taiwan with more than 10 million members. PChome Online offers a comprehensive suite of services including an Internet portal, ecommerce platform and telecommunications offering. According to a survey published by Market Intelligence Center (MIC) in January 2006, PChome has a 23 percent share of the online shopping market, making it the number one ecommerce platform in Taiwan. PChome Online and Skype formed a partnership in 2004 to launch a co-branded service in Taiwan. PChome Online became the first publicly-listed Internet company in Taiwan when it went public in January 2005.

full press release: http://investor.ebay.com/ReleaseDetail.c...eID=199313&FYear=

[wayoutwest]

what?? no more 130 character fb on tw.ebay.com??  (yeah, i know ebay banned that awhile back, but it still works )

[xppman]

The new website will be managed locally by PChome Online and will replace both PChome Online's existing auction channel and the eBay Taiwan site.

You know what they say. If you can't buy beat em join em.

Looks like once again ebay has tapped out like a wrestler on the mat
who's opponent just put them into a submission hold.

"This partnership is a remarkable milestone for PChome Online," said Hung Tze Jan, chairman of PChome Online. "eBay is one of the world's most recognized ecommerce brands and PChome Online is an Internet pioneer with great successes in Taiwan ecommerce.

Poor Hung... He may have just signed his companies own death warrant.

I guess he doesn't know or care that:
eBay is the world's most recognized brand of every scammer on the planet
and the ebay logo alone draws them in like flies on a heap of shit.

[amy]

Translation of deal:

eBay admits defeat to Yahoo Auctions Taiwan which OWNS the person-to-person auction market in Taiwan, but saves face by merging its operations with PCChrome thus avoiding the humiliating alternative of closing a second failed Asian eBay site (eBay Japan was the first) that couldn't compete with Yahoo.

[xppman]

Very astute and correct translation Me thinks. 

[mandy]

eBay will fire its entire Taiwan workforce of 40 when it shuts down the site. eBay Taiwan launched in 2002 shortly after eBay pulled out of Japan.

eBay is nuking their entire Taiwan workforce as part of the deal (thanks folks!)  Here's a good quote:

"We’ll lay off most of our workforce, but some of them may be able to find work at the new company," said Angel Cheng, spokeswoman for eBay Taiwan.

So the eBay Asia record is:
1. Japan - lost to Y! Japan, pulled out
2. Taiwan - leaving, but partnering with PCHome to have some presence
3. China - in a deathmatch battle with Y! funded TaoBao/Alibaba and wild man Jack Ma
4. Korea - was killing it there, but recently gmarket is taking some share.  Y! has stepped in here and is funding gmarket in this battle as well.

full article: http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_str..._out_.html

[Kristijntje]

Update: the PCHome/eBay joint venture auction site will launch next month

Website http://www.ruten.com.tw/, a new on-line auction platform established by PChome Online and eBay on a joint venture basis, will begin to recruit new members on the 25th of this month and kick off operations next month, according to Hung-tze Jan, chairman of both PChome and the joint venture, at an introductory press conference on September 6.

The joint venture platform integrates the existing PChome on-line auction channel and eBay Taiwan auction website, and will begin to combine both sides' members next month, according to Ruten COO Simon Yeh. Ruten has an initial capitalization of NT$288 million, with PChome and eBay holding 65% and 35% stakes respectively, Yeh noted...

full article: http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060907A9060.html