Yahoo and QXL Ricardo to launch three auction sites

01/08/02 07:48:35 GMT

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. online media company Yahoo said on Thursday it
would partner with QXL Ricardo (QXL) to develop co-branded auctions sites for
the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish markets.

The deal represents a re-entry of sorts for Yahoo into the European online
auction business.

In May, Yahoo shut down six online auction businesses in Western Europe as
the once-promising business continued to lose ground to dominant market leader
eBay .

Yahoo had invested heavily in online auctions in the late 1990s in the hopes
that it could collect significant commissions on the sale of new and used goods,
cultivating a tidy profit centre. EBay though cornered the market in North
America and Asia, relegating competitors to an ever dwindling share.

In scaling down its auction business in May, Yahoo announced it had struck a
multi-year, multi-million euro marketing pact with eBay in which the auctioneer
would promote its service to Yahoo's European audience.

QXL Ricardo, which has also lost market share to eBay over the past two
years, will host and maintain the co-branded Scandinavian auction sites, which
will go live this quarter, the companies said.

© 2002 Reuters