The two companies said yesterday that they had signed an agreement that enables eBay to buy 67 percent of Eachnet.com's stakes from Delaware-based EachNet Inc for about US$150 million.

Since eBay had already bought one-third of the stakes of Eachnet.com earlier for US$30 million, yesterday's deal means that eBay is now the only owner of that firm, the largest online auction business in China.

Eachnet.com spokesman Wesley Bai said that the potential of the Chinese market and his company's business model were the main reasons for the acquisition.

The Shanghai-based firm runs the biggest online auction website in China and has 2 million active users.

According to Bai, eBay has two seats on EachNet Inc's five-member board and this set-up will not change for the time being. Its current management will also remain the same.

The acquisition is expected to be concluded in the next quarter but it may not have a significant effect on eBay revenue this year, although the NASDAQ-listed giant predicted that the deal may make its earnings per share fall by 2 US cents in the third quarter and 1 US cent in the last quarter of this year.

The stock of eBay rose by 2.23 percent to end at US$99.17 on the New York-based NASDAQ on Wednesday local time.

(China Daily June 13, 2003)