eBay Plans Classifieds Buying Spree

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that eBay plans to scoop up classifieds sites around the globe:

Jacob Aqraou, general manager of eBay’s global classified business, said he expects the company will take over a “fair” number of companies in the next six months or so . . . He said eBay’s strategy was to target classified-ad sites that have leading positions in geographies and industry segments in which eBay doesn’t currently compete . . . Mr. Aqraou pointed to Eastern Europe and Scandinavia as regional priorities, adding that the first in a series of acquisitions could be announced within the next several weeks.

I’m also guessing that mobile classifieds platforms are on the list, especially the EU-based Mobiya. eBay owns a range of classifieds properties in the US and Europe, most notably Kijiji. It owns approximately 25% of Craiglist but the companies are in the middle of litigation over alleged attempts by Craigslist management to dilute eBay’s voting rights.

Another potential eBay acquisition candidate would be Oodle, but given the rationale expressed above — [targets would be in] “geographies and industry segments in which eBay doesn’t currently compete — that’s somewhat less likely.

The claim in the article is that eBay’s combined classifieds properties see 82 million monthly uniques on a global basis. If eBay does make good on its global consolidation plans, it emerges as a bigger “threat” to the newspaper classifieds business than does Craigslist (which has always just been a convenient scapegoat for chronic newspaper issues).