Naver Corp., one of South Korea’s largest internet companies, has completed the acquisition of US fashion re-commerce specialist Poshmark Inc. In connection with the closing of the transaction, Poshmark’s common stock ceased trading and was delisted from the US NASDAQ stock exchange. The purchase price was not communicated.
The aim of the transaction is to jointly create a global online player in fashion re-commerce by combining Poshmark’s dedicated community of social shopping platform with Naver’s technological capabilities and knowledge of Asian markets. According to the press release, the company wants to become the global industry leader, especially in live streaming commerce.
With 80 million registered users in the US, Canada, Australia and India, Poshmark is one of the US’s leading suppliers of second-hand fashion, housewares and electronics. The company uses the social media channels Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat. As Naver stated when announcing its interest in the acquisition, Poshmark will continue to operate under its existing brand and from its current headquarters in Redwood City, California.
Sooyeon Choi, CEO of Naver, said of the acquisition, “We are extremely pleased to complete the transaction and welcome Poshmark to the Naver family, creating the strongest platform for empowering communities and reshaping commerce. I am confident that Naver’s leading technology in search, AI recommendation and e-commerce tools will enhance the user experience for the Poshmark community and create additional value for all of our stakeholders. Naver and Poshmark will immediately be well-positioned to compete globally going forward and capitalize on C2C as a key revenue stream.”
Manish Chandra, Founder and CEO of Poshmark, added: “We are thrilled to join forces with Naver and advance the future of shopping in an engaging and sustainable way. As part of Naver, we will benefit from their financial resources, significant technological capabilities and leading presence across Asia to expand our platform and enhance our user experience. I’m proud of what our team has built and look forward to seeing how Poshmark employees benefit from being part of a larger, global organization that embraces our values and vision around content, community and empowerment.”