Tradus

Tradus
Type of site
 Global marketplace for used heavy machinery
Available in Multilingual
Founded London, UK (1997)
Headquarters Hoofddorp, Netherlands
Area served Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom
Owner Naspers
Industry Classifieds, Electronic commerce
Products Online classified adverts, online auction business model, Online payment systems, Price comparison
Revenue not disclosed
Operating income not disclosed
Net income not disclosed
Website www.tradus.com
Registration required to buy and sell

Tradus (tradus.com) lists ads for used, heavy machinery and vehicles in the felds of construction, transport, and farming, and also spare parts for such machines. Tradus was an online auction company operating in Central and Eastern Europe whose flagship Allegro was (and is) by far the most popular auction site in Poland. In March 2008, the company was acquired by the South African media group Naspers. Between 2015 and 2016 the brand Tradus vanished from Naspers´ classifieds portfolio for a few months. But, it came back late in 2016, when Tradus.com was launched as a heavymachinery classifieds site by the OLX Group. The site is based in Amsterdam.[1]

History

Tradus got born as an emerger of QXL, founded in London in 1997 by Financial Times journalist Tim Jackson, and ricardo, founded in Baar, Switzerland in 1999.[2] The company first operated under the name "QXL Ricardo", and the current name, "Tradus", didn't step in until November 2007.

In 1999, QXL was simultaneously floated on the London Stock Exchange as well as the Nasdaq exchange in New York.[3][4] Also in 1999 the company secured the rights to sell off pieces of the famous Wembley Stadium,[5] which was being demolished and rebuilt. QXL also managed to prise Hugh Scully, host of Antiques Roadshow, away from the BBC to front its antiques business.[6]

In November 2000, QXL merged with its European rival ricardo.de of Germany. The new company was named QXL Ricardo and remained based in London.[7][8]

Late in 2000, QXL Ricardo became the first British member of an elite gang of dotcoms which saw their stock lose 99 per cent of their value, shares which were valued at £8.00 being worth only 6.5p.[9] However, later this trend was reversed and in 2005 the share was ranked as the best performing on the LSE[10]

In December 2002, a dispute over ownership of QXL Poland arose. In June 2006 the conflict was settled with QXL Poland returning under full ownership of the Group. [11][12]

November 2004 QXL Ricardo's shareholders received two offers of acquisition from Tiger Acquisition (set up by Great Hill Funds and the existing management to make the offer) and Florissant.[13] In the end, Florissant and a group of Israeli investors each ended up with large shareholdings and the company remained publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange.

On 7 November 2007, after a sharp rise in the company's share price, the company announced that it had received a preliminary approach from a potential bidder who was unnamed. Intense press speculation[14][15][16] arose as to who the potential bidder may be. This was further supported by various press articles in mid-December announcing that the potential purchaser was the South African media company Naspers, reportedly paying in the region of £17 per share or about £750 million.[17]

On 21 November 2007 QXL Ricardo announced that it had received permission from its shareholders to change the name to Tradus plc.

The offer to take over Tradus was formally announced on 18 December 2007 at £18 per share, valuing the company at some £946 million.[18][19][20] The acquisition of Tradus by Naspers was concluded on 7 March 2008, when the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange.[21]

In March 2013 QXL Denmark and Norway was sold to Lauritz.com, a Danish auction house.[22]

In late 2016 Tradus.com was launched as a heavymachinery classifieds site by the OLX Group. The site is based in Amsterdam. Tradus.com lists ads for used, heavy machinery and vehicles in the felds of construction, transport, and farming, and also spare parts for such machines.[1]

Country Brand name Web Address
UkraineAukrohttp://www.aukro.ua
BulgariaAukrohttps://web.archive.org/web/20071029113852/http://www.aukro.bg/
Czech RepublicAukrohttp://www.aukro.cz
DenmarkQXLhttp://www.qxl.dk
Greecericardohttp://www.ricardo.gr
HungaryTeszVeszhttp://www.teszvesz.hu
NorwayQXLhttp://www.qxl.no
PolandAllegro
otoMoto
otoDom
Ceneo
iStore		http://www.allegro.pl
http://www.otomoto.pl
http://www.otodom.pl
http://www.ceneo.pl
http://www.payu.pl
http://www.doladowania.payu.pl
http://www.istore.pl
SlovakiaAukrohttp://www.aukro.sk
Switzerlandricardo
tradus.ch		http://www.ricardo.ch
http://www.tradus.ch
RomaniaTIZO
TrendZone
Autovit
Mercador
Compari
donda		https://web.archive.org/web/20100424073712/http://tizo.ro/
http://www.trendzone.ro
http://www.autovit.ro
http://www.mercador.ro
http://www.compari.ro
http://www.donda.ro
RussiaMolotokhttp://www.molotok.ru
EstoniaOSTA.EEhttp://www.osta.ee
United KingdomQXLhttp://www.qxl.co.uk

Acquisitions

Company Purchase price Date
Humpty Dumpty/eSwap£3.1 millionJuly 1999
QXL Auksjon Norge AS£13.2 millionDecember 1999
QXL Denmark ApS£6.6 millionJanuary 2000
QXL Poland Sp. z o. o.$75,000March 2000
ibilive NV£6.8 millionApril 2000
Idefi SA£2.5 millionApril 2000
Bidlet AB£62.2 millionJune 2000
ricardo.de AG£44.8 millionNovember 2000
Aucland.frnilJuly 2002
Ceneo SA£732,000December 2006
Molotok.ru£1.5 millionOctober 2007
Trendsales.dk£12+ million (estimated)November 2010

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Gnezditskaia, Anastasia. "Tradus comes back as a heavy-machines site | AIM Group". Retrieved 2017-06-09.
  2. ↑ "Unternehmen". ricardo. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Business: The Company File QXL shares modest rise on debut. Retrieved on April 30, 2007.
  4. ↑ QXL.com float price collapses
  5. ↑ QXL opens bidding with live Wembley auction
  6. ↑ Scully joins net auctioneers
  7. ↑ QXL in German merger. Retrieved on April 30, 2007.
  8. ↑ QXL Ricardo Plc Shelf Document. Retrieved on April 30, 2007.
  9. ↑ QXL shares going going gone
  10. ↑ Winners and Losers: Online auctioneer fetches best price of 2005 Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ Rogue lawyer 'guilty' in QXL case. Retrieved on April 30, 2007.
  12. ↑ Conditional agreement to settle litigation and obtain control and ownership of QXL Poland Archived 2007-01-27 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved on April 30, 2007.
  13. ↑ QXL sells itself for £12m
  14. ↑ QXL Ricardo shares jump after approach
  15. ↑ ebay buying QXL Ricardo with eyes on Eastern
  16. ↑ ebay tipped as suitor in bid approach for QXL Ricardo
  17. ↑ Buy it now: online auction house sold for £750m
  18. ↑ Naspers Limited - Offer for Tradus PLC
  19. ↑ Recommended cash offer for Tradus plc
  20. ↑ Naspers bids for Tradus
  21. ↑ Kew, Janice (7 March 2008). "South African Stocks: Gold Fields, Naspers and Tiger Brands". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  22. ↑ Lauritz.com køber QXL
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