eBay announced the results of its tender offer in Korea for publicly-held common shares of Internet Auction Co., Ltd. (IAC), the Korean online trading company. The tender offer, which offered KRW70,000 per share, closed on December 10. A total of 1,559,061 shares were tendered, bringing eBay's ownership of IAC from slightly more than 50% to 62%. Based on a December 10, 2003 exchange rate of KRW1186 to US$1.00, the purchase amount will approximate US$92 million. The tender offer is scheduled to be settled on December 17.

eBay has a majority stake in the company and announced in November it would acquire through a cash tender offer the remaining publicly-held common shares of IAC. But a group of minority shareholders opposed the move, demanding a better price. Reuters reports eBay wanted to buy the remaining 6.39 million shares for $58.97/share, but said it ended up purchasing only 1.56 million shares, or 12 percent.

eBay said it has no plans to pursue another tender offer.