EBAY LOSES TOYS R US, E-COMMERCE

E-commerce Immediacy driven by the New Supply Chain is now required to sell online.  EBay may have been slow to learn.   Let us see how Toys  'R' Us does.

EBay’s Enterprise unit takes a hit amid sale talks    

 

By Greg Bensinger and Gillian Tan

Published: July 9, 2015 5:58 p.m. ET

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Client Toys ‘R’ Us to take control of its own e-commerce business

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GregBensinger

GillianTan

Bloomberg

Days ahead of its planned breakup, eBay Inc. suffered a blow in its effort to sell its eBay Enterprise unit as one of the division’s biggest customers said it would move much of its business elsewhere.
Toys “R” Us Inc. on Thursday said it would take control of its own U.S. e-commerce operations by mid-2016, rather than relying on eBay Enterprise. The announcement comes at an inopportune time for eBay EBAY, -0.15%   which has been in talks with Thomas H. Lee Partners LP to sell the unit for as much as $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The e-commerce company has been searching for a buyer since at least January, when it said it could also seek a spinoff of the division. In recent weeks, Thomas H. Lee had outbid other potential suitors including a grouping of private-equity firms, Apax Partners and Sterling Partners, people familiar with the matter said.

Even before the Toys “R” Us announcement, talks between eBay and Thomas H. Lee had reached a standstill over price. The two sides have discussed a price range of between $800 million and $1 billion, two of the people said. That price would be less than half the $2.4 billion that eBay paid in 2011 for the unit, then known as GSI Commerce.
In the hopes of securing a deal, eBay had extended the prior deadline of June 30 to July 15, which is two days before eBay’s planned split from its PayPal payments unit, according to one of the people.