The FINANCIAL — EBay Inc. is closing in on a deal to sell its eBay Enterprise unit to a group led by private-equity firm Permira for around $900 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal, which was being finalized late on July 15, could be announced as soon as July 16, when eBay is scheduled to release second-quarter financial results, these people said. EBay also plans to complete the spinoff of its PayPal payments unit on Friday.
The sale to the group, which includes private-equity firm Sterling Partners, could end up around $925 million, one of the people said, according to Nasdaq.
EBay has been seeking a buyer for the Enterprise unit, which helps power online retail sites for companies such as IKEA, since at least January, when it said it could also spin it off.
The unit suffered a blow last week when Toys “R” Us Inc., one of its larger customers, said it would take its U.S. business in-house by mid-2016.
EBay, of San Jose, Calif., had also been in talks recently with private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP to sell the unit for as much as $1 billion.
Resolving the fate of eBay Enterprise, formerly known as GSI Commerce, is among the final loose ends the company hoped to tie up before its new life as a stand-alone company.
An eBay spokesman declined to comment. Representatives for Permira and Sterling didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The roughly $900 million price would be less than half the $2.4 billion that eBay paid in 2011 for the unit. In the hopes of securing a deal, eBay had extended the prior deadline of June 30 to Wednesday, one of the people said. The people said there was no guarantee a deal would be reached.
The Enterprise unit took in $1.24 billion in revenue last year, a 6% increase from the prior year, according to eBay’s financial statements. That represented about 7% of eBay’s$17.9 billion in sales.
Before eBay bought GSI, it recorded sales in 2010 of $1.36 billion, which then included retail sites Rue La La, ShopRunner and Fanatics. Those three companies are now owned by a separate holding company called Kynetic LLC.
As the PayPal spinoff nears, eBay has been cleaning house in other ways. In June, it sold back to Craigslist Inc. a 28.4% stake it had held in the classified-ad site since 2004 for an undisclosed amount, while also settling remaining litigation. Earlier this year, eBay pared about 2,400 jobs, representing roughly 7% of its workforce.
Toys “R” Us, based in Wayne, N.J., said bringing much of its e-commerce operations in-house would provide it an improved customer experience. The retailer has been a customer of eBay Enterprise since 2006, and will continue to use its services in Europe and Canada.
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