| Type | Wholly owned subsidiary | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | London, UK (1997) | ||
| Headquarters | London, UK | ||
| Area served | Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom | ||
| Key people | Christian Unger, CEO Simon Duffy, Chairman Robert Dighero, CFO |
||
| Industry | Auctions, Electronic commerce | ||
| Products | Online auction hosting, Online payment systems, Price comparison service, Online classified adverts | ||
| Revenue | £36.4 million GBP (2006/07) |
||
| Operating income | £9.5 million GBP (2006/07) |
||
| Net income | £6.7 million GBP (2006/07) |
||
| Owner | Naspers | ||
| Employees | 416 (March 2007) | ||
| Slogan | Europe's online trading community | ||
| Website | www.tradus.com | ||
| Type of site | online auction | ||
| Registration | required to buy and sell | ||
| Available in | Multilingual | ||
|
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Tradus is an online auction company that operates in Europe. The company, a subsidiary of South African media group Naspers since March 2008, operates across Europe using many different brands. Its flagship Allegro is by far the most popular auction site in Poland.
Contents |
Tradus (formerly QXL) was founded in London in 1997 by Financial Times journalist Tim Jackson and has operations in major European markets.
In 1999, QXL was simultaneously floated on the London Stock Exchange as well as the Nasdaq exchange in New York.[1][2] Also in 1999 the company secured the rights to sell off pieces of the famous Wembley Stadium,[3] which was being demolished and rebuilt. QXL also managed to prise Hugh Scully, host of Antiques Roadshow, away from the BBC to front its antiques business.[4]
In November 2000, QXL merged with its European rival ricardo.de of Germany. The new company was named QXL ricardo and remained based in London.[5][6]
Late in 2000, QXL became the first British member of an elite gang of dotcoms which saw their stock lose 99 per cent of their value, shares which were valued at £8.00 being worth only 6.5p.[7] However later this trend was reversed and in 2005 the share was ranked as the best performing on the LSE[8]
In December 2002, a dispute over ownership of QXL Poland arose. In June 2006 the conflict was settled with QXL Poland returning under full ownership of the Group. [9] [10]
In November 2004 QXL's shareholders received two offers of acquisition from Tiger Acquisition (set up by Great Hill Funds and the existing management to make the offer) and Florissant.[11] In the end, Florissant and a group of Israeli investors each ended up with large shareholdings and the company remained publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange.
On the 7th November 2007, after a sharp rise in the company's share price, the company announced that it had received a preliminary approach from a potential bidder who was unnamed. Intense press speculation[12][13][14] arose as to who the potential bidder may be. This was further supported by various press articles in mid-December announcing that the potential purchaser was the South African media company Naspers, reportedly paying in the region of £17 per share or about £750 million.[15]
The offer to take over Tradus was formally announced on 18 December 2007 at £18 per share, valuing the company at some £946 million.[16][17][18]
On 21 November 2007 the company announced that it had received permission from its shareholders to change the name to Tradus plc.
The acquisition of Tradus by Naspers was concluded on 7 March 2008, when the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange.[19]
On 6 May 2008 it was announced that the UK QXL site would close on 30 May 2008.
Tradus operates a business model similar to eBay. Therefore it tends to concentrate in countries where eBay is either not present nor is the market leader and where Tradus is (or can be) market leader.[20] On 1 August 2009, ricardo.ch, one of Tradus AG's subsidiaries, will launch a new marketplace for classifieds, under the name of tradus.ch following eBay's approach, when it launched kijiji in 2005.
| Country | Brand name | Web Address |
| Ukraine | Aukro | http://www.aukro.ua |
| Bulgaria | Aukro | http://www.aukro.bg |
| Czech Republic | Aukro | http://www.aukro.cz |
| Denmark | QXL | http://www.qxl.dk |
| Greece | ricardo | http://www.ricardo.gr |
| Hungary | TeszVesz | http://www.teszvesz.hu |
| Norway | QXL | http://www.qxl.no |
| Poland | Allegro otoMoto otoDom Ceneo PayU PayGSM Platnosci iStore |
http://www.allegro.pl http://www.otomoto.pl http://www.otodom.pl http://www.ceneo.pl http://www.payu.pl http://www.paygsm.pl http://www.platnosci.pl http://www.istore.pl |
| Slovakia | Aukro | http://www.aukro.sk |
| Switzerland | ricardo tradus.ch |
http://www.ricardo.ch http://www.tradus.ch |
| Romania | TIZO TrendZone Autovit Mercador Compari |
http://www.tizo.ro http://www.trendzone.ro http://www.autovit.ro http://www.mercador.ro http://www.compari.ro |
| Russia | Molotok | http://www.molotok.ru |
| Estonia | OSTA.EE | http://www.osta.ee |
| United Kingdom | QXL | http://www.qxl.co.uk |
| Company | Purchase price | Date |
| Humpty Dumpty/eSwap | £3.1 million | July 1999 |
| QXL Auksjon Norge AS | £13.2 million | December 1999 |
| QXL Denmark ApS | £6.6 million | January 2000 |
| QXL Poland Sp. z o. o. | $75,000 | March 2000 |
| ibilive NV | £6.8 million | April 2000 |
| Idefi SA | £2.5 million | April 2000 |
| Bidlet AB | £62.2 million | June 2000 |
| ricardo.de AG | £44.8 million | November 2000 |
| Aucland.fr | nil | July 2002 |
| Ceneo SA | £732,000 | December 2006 |
| Molotok.ru | £1.5 million | October 2007 |
| Trendsales.dk | £12+ million (estimated) | November 2010 |