Asian Stocks Slip as Tech Rout Deepens, Japan Steadies Ahead of Election 
Amazon Stock Rebounds After Earnings as $200B Capex Plan Sparks AI Spending Debate 
Global PC Makers Eye Chinese Memory Chip Suppliers Amid Ongoing Supply Crunch 
SoftBank Shares Slide After Arm Earnings Miss Fuels Tech Stock Sell-Off 
Tencent Shares Slide After WeChat Restricts YuanBao AI Promotional Links 
Instagram Outage Disrupts Thousands of U.S. Users 
China Extends Gold Buying Streak as Reserves Surge Despite Volatile Prices 
South Korea Assures U.S. on Trade Deal Commitments Amid Tariff Concerns 
Gold and Silver Prices Slide as Dollar Strength and Easing Tensions Weigh on Metals 
Oil Prices Slip as U.S.–Iran Talks Ease Supply Disruption Fears 
AMD Shares Slide Despite Earnings Beat as Cautious Revenue Outlook Weighs on Stock 
Vietnam’s Trade Surplus With US Jumps as Exports Surge and China Imports Hit Record 
Alphabet’s Massive AI Spending Surge Signals Confidence in Google’s Growth Engine 
Uber Ordered to Pay $8.5 Million in Bellwether Sexual Assault Lawsuit 
Dow Hits 50,000 as U.S. Stocks Stage Strong Rebound Amid AI Volatility 
Nvidia, ByteDance, and the U.S.-China AI Chip Standoff Over H200 Exports 
OpenAI Expands Enterprise AI Strategy With Major Hiring Push Ahead of New Business Offering 
Lotte Shopping and Shinsegae are among the major companies that proceeded with their bids to acquire the Korean unit of the American e-commerce platform, eBay. The two companies have already submitted their bids as the final bidding is due to take place.
The bidding war for the American e-commerce platform
Yonhap News Agency reported that sources revealed that Lotte Shopping and Shinsegae are fiercely competing for the acquisition of eBay Korea, and it is hard to gauge which company is on the winning edge in this bid.
They have forwarded their letters of intent, and the results are expected to be announced soon. The bid for eBay’s sale will be the e-commerce company’s second attempt to sell. It can be recalled that it was in January when eBay Korea was put up for sale, and in May, it has not reached an agreement with potential buyers.
Lotte Shopping and Shinsegae Group are the remaining major competitors in the acquisition of the firm. SK Telecom and PEF company, MBK Partners and Homeplus have all withdrawn their bids as per business insiders.
“MBK Partners do not see great merit for acquiring eBay Korea at 5 trillion as the American e-commerce player can create little synergy with traditional supermarket Homeplus," The Korea Times quoted a business insider as saying with regards to the reason why they dropped out. "SKT signed a strategic partnership recently with Amazon, and it is too busy to pursue eBay Korea at the same time."
It is believed that the acquisition of eBay Korea may transform the online retail business in S. Korea. This is because both Lotte and Shinsegae are already in the retail business, and they could use eBay to further broaden their presence online.
Bidding prices and results
Reuters mentioned that bidding for eBay Korea's sale concluded on Monday afternoon, June 7. However, the prices that Lotte Shopping and Shinsegae Group have submitted were not revealed yet.
Finally, eBay Korea is hoping that it could get at least $4.5 billion or around ₩ 5 trillion since it is currently the third-largest e-commerce firm in the country. It had a total market share of 12.8% last year.
