Could Amazon acquire eBay?

Amazon head Jeff Bezos to focus on the company's becoming a leader in the mobile wallet arena and continuing to stay on top of fast, comprehensive delivery services.

The companies Amazon gobbles up next year are likely to reflect two of the focuses that are most important to the company now: becoming a leader in the mobile wallet arena and continuing to stay on top of fast, comprehensive delivery services.

Amazon's acquisitions in 2014 centered around its entertainment expansion with its $970 million acquisition of video game streaming company Twitch and its acquisition of digital comic company ComiXology.

But next year could be different. Competition in some of Amazon's key spaces is heating up, and the company may make strategic acquisitions to stay on top.

Recode reports eBay and PayPal are ripe for acquisition after the two companies announced in September that they would separate. The most likely target to buy eBay may be Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which is preparing to enter the U.S. market in a big way. That would give the company a strong foothold in the U.S. right off the bat.

But Amazon could also see a benefit in acquiring eBay. It would eliminate a hearty competitor - the companies are two of the largest in the U.S. e-commerce market. That could result in antitrust issues for the merger.

An eBay acquisition could also help Amazon compete against Alibaba, which operates a business model similar to eBay's. The Chinese giant has opened a Seattle outpost in Amazon's backyard, and has begun gobbling up U.S. companies.

Source : Rachel Lerman - Puget Sound Business Journal
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