eBay has acquired "the leading classifeds website in the Netherlands," the company announced Thursday, and plans to operate the site as a separate business. eBay purchased Marktplaats.nl from Het Goed Beheer BV, a company that owns second-hand retail shops in the Netherlands, for $290 million. Earlier this year eBay acquired a 25% stake in Craigslist, an online community featuring classifieds and forums in 45 cities around the world. (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m08/i13/s01) It also acquired Mobile.de, a car classifieds site in Germany, last Spring.

With the Dutch acquisition, eBay said it will be able to expand its ecommerce position in the Netherlands while adding to its growing knowledge of classifieds-style trading. eBay plans to continue to operate Marktplaats.nl as a separate business from eBay Netherlands.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to eBay Netherlands country manager, Marktplaats.nl has surpassed eBay in virtually all electronic-commerce categories in Netherlands, even though the eBay Dutch auction site is flourishing (http://digbig.com/4ccxb - must be paid subscriber to view).

The UK site The Register reports that Marktplaats owns classifieds sites in Germany, Canada, Spain and Turkey, and quotes Marktplaats CEO Oscar Diele, "There's no eBay in Turkey, so it is an excellent opportunity for eBay to enter that market as well." (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/ebay_goes_dutch/)

Founded in 1999 and based in Emmeloord, Marktplaats.nl is the most popular classifieds Web site in the Netherlands with more than one million listings at any given time.

eBay has acquired all outstanding shares of Marktplaats.nl and certain of its subsidiaries for approximately €225 million in cash, or approximately US$290 million based on the November 9, 2004 exchange rate of US$1.29 per Euro, plus acquisition costs. eBay does not expect the acquisition to have a material impact on 2004 or 2005 net revenue and earnings per share, and does not expect it to affect eBay's financial guidance as issued in connection with its third quarter earnings release on October 20, 2004.