South Korea's first e-commerce platform Interpark's large stake was sold

After the former industry leader eBay Korea was sold for approximately 3.4 trillion won, another former Korean e-commerce big brother also fell into the dilemma of having its shares sold.

According to the Korean financial investment community on the 12th, Interpark's largest shareholder, CEO Lee Ki-hyung, and others recently appointed NH Investment, the largest securities company in Korea,   &   Securities is the sales advisor and is seeking to sell its shares. It is reported that CEO Lee Ki-hyung and others have taken control of Interpark   28.41% of the shares.  

At the end of last year , Interpark 's share price was only 2,180 won, but due to the economic recovery and other factors , Interpark 's share price has risen by about 150% this year alone . If calculated based on the closing price of 5,650 won on Monday, the day the news was announced , Interpark's market value is 458.7 billion won , and the value of the shares listed for sale is 128.4 billion won .

As the first generation of online shopping malls in Korea, Interpark launched the first online shopping service in Korea in June 1996. With services such as "free delivery" and "lowest price guarantee", Interpark pioneered the era of free delivery in Korean e-commerce. After that, Interpark's market share gradually rose to the first place and was hailed as the "Amazon of Korea".

However, with the emergence of a number of competitors and the rapid changes in the Korean e-commerce market, Interpark sold its core subsidiary Gmarket to eBay for approximately 440 billion won in 2008, and was gradually marginalized in the retail market with fierce price competition.

Interpark suffered a direct blow from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and its performance continued to decline. Last year, Interpark 's sales were 3.16 trillion won , down 7.1% from the previous year , and its operating loss was 11.2 billion won. In the first quarter of this year, sales increased by 5% to 793.6 billion won, but it still suffered an operating loss of 6.1 billion won.

Interpark has a 70% market share in the online ticketing sector for performances, so the sale of this stake is likely to attract the interest of Naver, a South Korean e-commerce platform giant, and Kakao, an IT giant , due to the site's importance in entertainment bookings .

In addition, the sale of Interpark's shares may also deepen the distress of other medium-sized e-commerce platforms in South Korea, especially TMON and We Make Pric, which have been overlooked in successive mergers and acquisitions.

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