QXL.com, the UK auction web site, has negotiated a new price for
its proposed takeover of German rival ricardo.de, about 20% below
the original price.
The German company is now worth almost four times less than it
was at the time of the original merger proposal, however QXL.com’s
share price has also reduced significantly.
The merger was put in doubt last Thursday when QXL received
information suggesting that ricardo.de was performing worse than
expected. QXL’s chief executive Jim Rose is reported by BBC News as
saying that he still believes the merger with Ricardo would create
a “strong and competitive” business platform from which to achieve
the strategic and financial goals of both companies.
The combined firm will be called QXL ricardo. It will be the
largest auction site in Europe with more than two million
registered users.
