South Korean internet giant Naver Corp. closed its acquisition of Spanish secondhand marketplace Wallapop for €377 million ($435.2 million), bringing its total ownership to 100% after weeks of contentious negotiations that saw initial offers rejected by shareholders.
The deal, announced Monday, gives Naver an additional 70.5% stake in the Barcelona-based platform, adding to investments of €115 million in 2021 and €75 million in 2023. Earlier this year, Naver’s initial €600 million valuation offer was rebuffed by investors including Accel and Insight Venture Partners, who viewed the bid as significantly below Wallapop’s €771 million valuation from a 2023 funding round.
The acquisition reflects Naver’s broader international expansion strategy as domestic growth slows. While Naver reported record 2023 revenue of 9.7 trillion won ($7.34 billion), driven largely by e-commerce gains, the company has been acquiring overseas platforms including Poshmark for $1.2 billion in 2022 to diversify beyond its dominant position in South Korea’s search market.
Wallapop, founded in 2013, operates across Spain, Italy and Portugal with over 19 million monthly active users. The platform facilitates peer-to-peer transactions across categories from electronics to automobiles, tapping into Europe’s growing circular economy trend. The company broke even operationally in Spain for 2024 and expects revenue to reach record levels this year, though user growth has been modest since 2021.
Naver plans to integrate its search, advertising and AI technologies into Wallapop’s platform as part of its European market expansion through investment firm Korelya Capital, established by former French minister Fleur Pellerin.
