EachNet was founded in Shanghai in August 1999 by two US-educated Chinese entrepreneurs, Bo Shao and Haiyin Tan. Today, it has 3.5 million registered users who trade a wide variety of items from clothing and antique calligraphy to computers and real estate. Ebay has around 42 million registered users and carries around 7.2 million items for sale on its site at any given time.
“Our relationship with EachNet is an important step forward in eBay's strategy to build a truly global marketplace,” said Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay. “Over the next three to four years, China's e-commerce revenue is projected to grow nearly twelve-fold to more than $16 billion. Together with EachNet, eBay will be well positioned to help develop this emerging market and benefit from its growth long term.”
China has more than 27 million consumers on-line, making it the world's fifth largest internet population behind the US, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. China is the fourth largest e-commerce market in Asia and eleventh in the world, and its on-line commerce is expected to nearly double every year for the next four years, according to figures from researchers IDC.
In conjunction with its investment, eBay will receive the right to expand its ownership at a later date.