Schibsted, Naspers, Telenor, and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is reportedly agreed to establish joint ventures for the development of online classifieds platforms in Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and Bangladesh. One vital point of this agreement is supposedly the merger between two biggest classified ad services in Indonesia, OLX Indonesia and Berniaga.
In Indonesia, OLX Indonesia is now owned by Naspers, while Berniaga is owned by 701 Search. 701 Search is an equal partnership joint venture amongst Schibsted, Telenor and SPH. The new joint venture will have Naspers owning 64% and 701 Search with 36%.
This merger undoubtedly will shake the marketplace business in Indonesia. As Tokopedia seems to lead in B2C segment after receiving $100 million funding from Softbank and Sequoia Capital, both OLX and Berniaga are previously competing for C2C market, with other player is Jualo. The aftermath of this joint venture could be the total domination of C2C market in Indonesia, just like eBay in USA.
We will update the story after further announcement from respective parties.
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