Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) reportedly approached the eBay marketplace with a takeover offer. Interestingly, reports note that the deal could vale eBay at more than $30 billion.
It was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, stating that both the companies haven’t had a formal discussion yet and henceforth there’s no deal confirmation in place as for now. Despite several news outlets reporting on the same, ICE itself released an article entitling, “Intercontinental exchange statement on news reports suggesting possible transaction with eBay”.
ICE’s official blog did confirm that they approached eBay with a takeover offer, however, they also claimed that the market place “eBay hasn’t engaged in a meaningful way”. It further continued that they are “not in negotiations regarding the scale of all or part of eBay”.
This being said, eBay seems not interested enough in continuing the talk on the takeover deal. However, it was reported that the ICE’s approached eBay multiple times. CNBC reported that the spokesperson from Atlanta-based ICO declined to comment and added;
“It’s ICE’s policy not to comment on rumors or speculation related to M&A.”
Interestingly enough, ICE is primarily looking to take cover eBay’s marketplace business and not the classified unit which eBay is expecting to sell. This comes into notice as the active shareholder, Starboard Value LP suggested eBay Inc to consider selling classified businesses to make enough progress to improve the value of shareholders. Concerning the same, Reuters added comments shared by Starboard in a letter to eBay’s board.
“To achieve the optimal outcome, we believe Classifieds must be separated, and a more comprehensive and aggressive operating plan must be put in place to drive profitable growth in the core Marketplace business,”
On the other hand, ICE is looking to diversify its trading wings than just traditional finance. Consequently, NYSE and Crypto venture Bakkt are two subsidiaries of ICE.