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Amazon Completes Acquisition of Souq.com | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Amazon completed on July 3 the acquisition of Dubai-based Souq.com. (AP)


Online retail giant Amazon completed on Monday the acquisition of Dubai-based Souq.com, the largest online retailer in the Middle East, around three months after the deal between the two sides was signed.

In a joint statement, the two retailers said that Amazon clients can use their accounts to access Souq.com’s services.

In buying Souq.com, Seattle-based Amazon will leapfrog into the crucial Mideast markets of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where the retailer already has local operations.

No sales price has been discussed for the deal, first announced in March. However, Dubai’s state-backed Emaar Malls PJSC announced it made an $800-million bid for Souq.com in a filing on the Dubai Financial Market just before Amazon closed its deal.

Bloomberg had previously estimated that Amazon paid 650 million dollars to acquire Souq.com.

Established in 2005, the Dubai-based retailer was originally set up as a bidding site, but it was later expanded to become an online market, described as the Amazon of the Middle East.

In February 2015, it announced that it had garnered 273 million dollars from international investors to fund its future expansion plans.

Its founder, Syrian businessman Ronald Mashhour, said that the online retail market is witnessing “very rapid growth,” estimating its value in 2016 at 20 billion dollars.

The merger with Amazon, said Mashhour, will “help us offer a special service to our clients.”

Souq.com offers 8.4 million products for sale within 31 categories, including electronics, clothes, watches and furniture. It attracts over 45 million visitors a month.