eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) is approaching an agreement to sell its enterprise unit, for roughly $900 million, to a consortium controlled by private equity firm Permira, according to a report published by the Wall Street citing sources close to matter. The transaction could be disclosed as early as this week, along with the second quarter financial results of the company.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that a private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP was in discussion to acquire EBAY’s enterprise business for approx. $1 billion.
eBay said back in January that it would explore a sale of the enterprise unit that is not fully compatible with its PayPal or marketplace segments. The company’s enterprise business helps retailers across the globe to improve their online existence and e-commerce capabilities. The business accounted for $288 million in revenue in Q1.
The company acquired the enterprise business, previously named as GSI Commerce, in 2011 for $2.4 billion. In the past few years the unit has lost consumers and seen slow growth with clients shifting their online operationsin-house.
eBay is ready to spin off itsonline marketplace unit from PayPal payments business. The company is set to announce its quarterly earnings and revenue on Thursday, which will be its last report before formally spinning off PayPal on 17th of July.
Chief executive officer at EBAY, John Donahoe will resign from his position after the PayPalspinoff is completed. Devin Wenig will become the new chief of that business. Wenig has been running eBay Marketplaces for the last three years. Dan Schulman, an ex-American Express executive, will head PayPal following the split.
A spokeswoman at eBay declined to comment on the rumor, saying the company do not respond to speculations. On the other hand, Permira was also not available for comment
