Hogan Lovells helps drive eBay in Australian automotive market acquisition

Press releases | 20 December 2019

Silicon Valley, 20 December 2019 – Teams from Hogan Lovells California and Australian offices represented eBay in its agreement to acquire Cox Automotive Media Solutions, one of Australia’s leading car buying and selling platforms. Upon closing, the company will join Gumtree Australia, part of the eBay Classifieds Group portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cox Automotive Media Solutions owns CarsGuide.com.au and Autotrader.com.au. The latter platform is a virtual marketplace with approximately 2,300 dealers and approximately 90,000 listings. CarsGuide.com.au is a resource for sellers and dealers to access research and content to buy and sell vehicles.

The Hogan Lovells team was led by partner Jane Ross in Silicon Valley, with support from Sydney-based partner David Holland, Washington, D.C.-based partner Logan Breed, and San Francisco-based partner John Brockland. Other members of the Hogan Lovells team supporting eBay were senior associates Annie Kang (Los Angeles) and Gabriella Plummer (Sydney), and associates Samantha Seiden (Los Angeles), Max Scott (San Francisco), and Oliver Newling (Sydney).

Ross has a long association with eBay. She represented the company in transactions that include eBay’s US$2.4bn acquisition and subsequent sale of GSI Commerce, and its acquisition of Giosis Pte Ltd’s Japanese ecommerce business, including the Qoo10 platform.