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Intercontinental Exchange offers to buy eBay
Intercontinental Exchange Inc, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has made an offer to buy eBay Inc in a deal that could value the ecommerce company at more than $30 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The companies aren't currently in formal talks and there is no guarantee eBay would agree to a deal, the report here said, citing people familiar with the matter.
EBay’s shares jumped 9.2% to $37.54, while ICE stock fell nearly 4% to $96.14 following the report.
ICE is primarily interested in eBay’s marketplace business, and not its classified unit, which eBay has been considering selling, the report said. ICE declined to comment, while eBay did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the WSJ report.
Earlier in the day, activist shareholder Starboard Value LP piled more pressure on eBay to sell the classifieds business, saying the company had not made enough progress to improve shareholder value. EBay last year agreed to sell its ticketing unit, StubHub, for $4.05 billion in cash, under pressure from Starboard and Elliott Management Corp. The activist investors had also urged the sale of Classifieds as part of a plan that could double the company’s value.
The company is expected to provide an update mid-2020 on its Classifieds business, which Elliott has valued at between $8 billion and $12 billion. Elliott did not respond to a request for comment on Starboard’s letter.
Starboard seems to be nudging eBay for a faster conclusion of its strategic review, said Robert W. Baird & Co analyst Colin Sebastian.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ebay-divestiture/intercontinental-exchange-offers-to-buy-ebay-wsj-idUSKBN1ZY1S7
ICE is the overlord of all the market exchanges…ALL of them.