Naver closes acquisition of US e-commerce firm Poshmark

Naver's office building in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province (Yonhap)

Korean internet portal giant Naver announced Friday that the company has completed its acquisition of Poshmark, a US social commerce marketplace for fashion, a move to penetrate into the global consumer-to-consumer market.

Naver's special purpose company Proton Parent acquired all shares and its assets of Poshmark for $1.31 billion. Its enterprise value stands at about $1.2 billion.

With the transaction, Poshmark withdrew its plan to go public on the US Nasdaq, Naver said.

Naver first decided to acquire Poshmark in October last year, and the acquisition was approved during Proton Parent’s general meeting of stockholders on Dec. 27.

With the acquisition, Naver will have its own e-commerce network bridging Japan, Europe and North America.

This is the Korean online platform operator's latest merger and acquisition shopping spree following its purchase of Kream in South Korea, Vintage City in Japan and Vestiaire Collective in Europe.

"With the acquisition of Poshmark, Naver will be able to expand its business portfolio to the North American market and lay the groundwork for the future growth of the company’s C2C unit," Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said.

"As a part of Naver, we'll benefit from their financial resources, significant technology capabilities, and leading presence across Asia to expand our platform and enhance our user experience," said Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra.

Founded in 2011, the California-based Poshmark is one of world’s biggest online shopping platforms, with over 80 million users who can buy and sell new and secondhand clothing, as well as other home goods.

By Shim Woo-hyun(ws@heraldcorp.com)