Naspers has expanded its online holdings by purchasing Romania’s main online retailer.The South African-based media conglomerate Naspers has paid 80 million US dollars for a majority stake in the Romanian site emag.ro, media reported. This is one of the largest transactions in the Romanian online sector so far.
Emag.ro was launched 11 years ago and sells mainly electronics, IT and home appliances and music. The company posted a turnover of 145 million euro last year.
Naspers already owns other online companies in Romania, including PayU and the online platforms autovit.ro, mercador.ro and compari.ro.
Online shopping is becoming popular in Romania. Millions of people used it to join the annual discount shopping day on November 23, known as Black Friday, hoping to benefit from bargain prices that only last for the day.
Emag.ro was almost overwhelmed by orders on Black Friday, although it had doubled the stocks compared to last year, the company said.
“We sold 12 million euro of products last Friday, 20 per cent over the company’s estimations, and sales continued over the weekend, adding 3.7 million euro to the revenue,” a press release said.