Ebay said that based on the expected sales proceeds, the company recorded an impairment of goodwill at Ebay Enterprise, formerly GSI Commerce, in the second quarter in the amount of approximately $786 million. The charge comes as Bloomberg reported that Ebay agreed to sell its Enterprise unit to a group led by private-equity firm Permira for $925 million.
The estimated $900
million price would be less than half the $2.4 billion that Ebay paid in
2011 for the unit. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal
could be finalized today.
Earlier this month, people familiar with the matter told Reuters that
private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP was in talks to buy Ebay's
enterprise unit for close to $1 billion.
In January, Ebay said it planned to divest its Enterprise business through a sale or IPO. Management at the time admitted that it had become clear that the Enterprise unit had limited synergies with either its core Ebay Marketplace unit or PayPal.
It provides omnichannel sales, fulfillment and marketing services to North America's largest sporting goods retailers, including Dick's Sporting Goods, Sports Chek, Eastern Mountain Sports and Sports Authority, as well and such brands as Helly Hansen, Quiksilver and Timberland. GSI eventually morphed into Ebay Enterprise, which also includes Magento, an e-commerce platform acquired in separate transactions in 2011.
The unit has struggled over the past few years as many former clients, including Dick's Sporting Goods, choose to move their e-commerce operations in-house. The unit suffered a blow last week when Toys “R” Us Inc., one of its
larger customers, said it would take its U.S. business in-house by
mid-2016.
Ebay also plans to complete the spinoff of its PayPal payments unit on Friday.
