Amazon, Flipkart Bow Out Of Race To Acquire Dubai Based Ecommerce Portal Souq

Recently, it was reported that Amazon and India’s ecommerce bigwig Flipkart were bidding against each other to acquire Dubai-based ecommerce portal Souq.com. However, as per a recent report by Bloomberg, these talks fell apart after the parties disagreed over price, according to two sources in the know.

Reportedly Souq is now looking for other potential investors. One of the sources close to the development, confirmed that the ecommerce portal is negotiating with mall operator Majid Al Futtaim.

In November 2016, ecommerce giant Amazon entered talks with Souq. At that time, the deal was projected to have been about $1 Bn.

Founded in 2005, Souq claims to attract more than 35 Mn visits to its catalogue of more than 1.5 Mn unique products in 30 different categories, including consumer electronics, household goods, fashion, watches, perfumes, toys, and baby products.

The Middle Eastern company’s existing investors include Tiger Global Management and Naspers Ltd, etc. It became the highest valued Internet company in the Middle East after a $275 Mn funding round in February 2016.

Amazon has been fuelling huge sums of money in its Indian unit to gain momentum over competitors. In December 2016, it invested a fresh capital of $295 Mn (INR 2,010 Cr) in its main Indian unit, making it the single-largest capital infusion so far.