South Korea’s Naver to buy U.S. e-commerce site Poshmark for $1.2 billion

South Korean internet giant Naver is acquiring U.S. e-retailer Poshmark for roughly $1.2 billion, the companies announced Monday. Poshmark shares popped as much as 14% in extended trading.

Naver is paying $17.90 per share in the all-cash deal. Shares of the South Korean internet giant slid more than 7% in Asia’s trading session, while Poshmark closed Monday at $15.57.

Naver operates a search engine, e-commerce platform and other services in South Korea. The companies said the deal will deepen Naver’s reach in online retail, while allowing Poshmark to enter international markets.

Poshmark is a popular online retail site that lets people shop from the closets of other users. The company went public in January 2021 at $42 a share, hitting the market at a time when online shopping was surging due to the Covid-19 pandemic and investors were flocking to tech stocks.

Since then, the stock has fallen sharply, tumbling alongside the rest of the tech industry.

Naver and Poshmark said they expect the deal to generate “significant revenue and cost synergies,” including reacceleration of annual revenue growth beyond 20% in the near term, as ads improve monetization, investments grow overseas and live commerce gets greater adoption.

The deal adds to recent consolidation in the secondhand clothing market. Etsy acquired fashion resale app Depop for $1.62 billion last year. Depop competes with Poshmark and other resale services like ThredUp.

The companies will host a conference call to discuss the deal at 9 p.m. ET on Monday.

Source: CNBC