eBay sells portion of its stake in Indian e-commerce site Snapdeal, claims ‘strong return’ on investment

Eighteen months after leading a $134 million funding round into Snapdeal, eBay has revealed that it’s selling a “portion” of its investment in the Indian e-commerce service.

Today’s news follows a flurry of divestments from eBay, with eBay Enterprise sold for $925 million, and its Craigslist stake sold back to Craigslist. And PayPal was spun out into a standalone entity, too.

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“As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are executing a clear business strategy that focuses on eBay being the best global marketplace and a great enduring Internet business,” explains Scott Schenkel, SVP and chief financial officer at eBay, in a press release. “Executing against our strategy includes regularly reviewing and actively managing our investment portfolio to ensure it fits within the broader strategic direction of eBay.”

Snapdeal has emerged as an e-commerce titan since it was founded initially as a daily deals site in 2010. Similar to Flipkart or eBay, Snapdeal lets users set up a store on the platform, and claims tech juggernauts such as Microsoft as merchants.

In addition to the $135 million round led last year, the New Delhi-based company secured a further $100 million in equity financing just a few months later. And eBay had previously plowed $50 million into Snapdeal, too.

Many had speculated that eBay would go on to acquire Snapdeal outright, rather than striving to compete with the platform in the lucrative India region, but that seems unlikely now in light of today’s news. Indeed, Schenkel says that eBay will “focus on accelerating eBay’s presence in India.”

While eBay hasn’t revealed any numbers, it does say that as an early investor in Snapdeal — a company whose valuation has increased “significantly” over the past couple of years — eBay will earn a “strong return” with this sale. And crucially, eBay will retain a “significant portion” of its original investment, meaning that it will continue to benefit from Snapdeal’s growth across the country.