Chinese tech giant Tencent, in an effort to expand its Ecommerce reach in China, has acquired a 20% stake in private listing portal 58.com for $736 million.
58.com is a C2C private listing website comparable to Craigslist.com, and boasts an average of 130 million unique monthly visitors. The classifieds website also launched an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange this past October. An initial price of $15 per share quickly rose to $22 during its first day of being listed, and now averages at around $50+.
As part of the agreement Tencent has purchased the 20% stake for $40 per share, just over 24% less than the listed $51.77 per share price, according to the when the market closed this past Thursday, June 26th.
Similar to other services in Tencent’s arsenal, 58.com listings will be integrated into the firm’s popular social and messaging application . Other integrated services offered within WeChat include Taxi hailing application Didi Dache and mobile Ewallet WePay.
Tencent’s continued Ecommerce expansion in China raises the stakes in its rivalry with Chinese Ecommerce and tech goliath . Both firms offer a wide array of competing services such as mobile payments, cab hailing, and mPOS solutions.
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