Amazon.com agrees Chinese book retailer purchase
20 August 2004
Amazon.com has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
China's largest online retailer of books, music and videos, Joyo.com.
The deal will give Amazon its sixth international market and is expected to close during the third quarter of this year.
Under terms of the agreement, Amazon will pay $72 million in cash and assume the cost of employee stock options. Amazon said it would continue to operate in China under the Joyo.com brand name.
The Seattle-based online retailer said the acquisition would give it a "head start" in the online retail market in China and stressed that it was "thinking long term" about its presence in the country.
Founded in May 2000, privately held Joyo is based in Beijing and incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The company has fulfilment centres in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou servicing 30 markets.
The Joyo sale comes just weeks after Amazon was rumoured to have made a failed bid for Chinese online retailer DangDang.com.
Amazon has been steadily increasing focus on its international business, with stores in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and Canada. The online retailer recently announced that international sales accounted for $1.3 billion, or 43.8 percent, of total sales, during the first six months of this year.
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