Amazon to acquire Souq.com despite Emaar’s last-minute bid

Amazon and Emaar Malls stared each other down in the Middle East e-commerce spotlight, and Emaar just blinked.

A last-minute ante of US$230 million by United Arab Emirates-based Emaar failed to derail plans by Amazon to acquire Souq.com, an e-commerce leader in the Middle East. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant announced today that the acquisition was going ahead, and scheduled to wrap up by the end of 2017.

On Monday, a filing by Emaar on the Dubai Financial Market revealed that the UAE-based property developer was making a bid for Souq.com. The bid appears to have come too late.

Amazon has not commented on the timing of their announcement, and its correlation to Emaar’s announcement at the time of press.

With Souq.com now joining the Amazon family, the Seattle-based e-commerce company will help Souq.com to consolidate its position in the market. Amazon also plans to introduce more products and offerings to customers through the acquisition. Souq.com currently sells around 8.4 million products, versus Amazon’s offering of over 480 million products in the USA alone.

“Amazon and Souq.com share the same DNA – we’re both driven by customers, invention, and long-term thinking,” said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon senior vice president, International Consumer.

Souq.com CEO and co-founder Ronaldo Mouchawar said that the acquisition was “a critical next step in growing our e-commerce presence on behalf of customers across the region.” He added that, “by becoming part of the Amazon family, we’ll be able to vastly expand our delivery capabilities and customer selection much faster, as well as continue Amazon’s great track record of empowering sellers.”

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