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Zalando attacks: takeover of competitor About You planned!
Zalando plans to take over About You for 1.2 billion euros. Goal: Increase market share in European fashion e-commerce.
Zalando attacks: takeover of competitor About You planned!
Berlin-based online retailer Zalando plans to take over its Hamburg-based competitor About You to expand its influence in European fashion and lifestyle e-commerce. Loud daily news Zalando wants to offer 6.50 euros for each About You share, which results in a total valuation of around 1.2 billion euros. About You's current share price was just 3.90 euros on Tuesday evening. Zalando's co-CEO, Robert Gentz, said that with this step they are aiming for a larger market share in the European online business and have already secured around 73 percent of the company's shares through agreements with the founders and board members. The takeover is expected to be completed in the summer of 2025.
Details about the takeover and future strategy
About You's existing management, including co-CEO Tarek Müller, is expected to retain their positions following the takeover. Zalando plans to save up to 100 million euros annually through synergies such as cost-efficient logistics and payment processing, while at the same time hundreds of jobs could be eliminated. Zalando, which employs more than 15,000 people, wants to achieve sales and gross merchandise volume growth of an average of five to ten percent by 2028, together with About You Business Insider.
The transaction is considered strategically advantageous, allowing both companies to grow and significantly increase their market shares through a dual-brand strategy in both B2C and B2B sectors. Both companies emphasize their complementary capabilities to create a more advanced e-commerce system in Europe.
Zalando's purchase offer comes in the context of the stagnating share prices of both companies, which have fallen significantly in recent years. The About You share has lost around 83 percent of its value since its IPO in June 2021, while Zalando has lost over 54 percent. The takeover could help both parties take advantage of completely new growth opportunities and better position themselves in the competitive market.