Company news in brief

Ebay alleges Amazon poached sellers

Ebay Inc on Wednesday accused Amazon.com Inc of trying to poach sellers for its own platform through Ebay’s internal messaging system.

“We have uncovered an unlawful and troubling scheme on the part of Amazon to solicit eBay sellers to move to Amazon’s platform,” eBay said, adding that it had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Amazon on Monday.

“We have demanded that Amazon end its unlawful activity and we will take the appropriate steps, as needed, to protect eBay,” the company said in a statement.

Amazon said it was conducting a thorough investigation of the allegations.

The Wall Street Journal, in a report earlier on Wednesday, said that an eBay investigation found about 50 Amazon employees across the world had sent more than 1 000 messages to sellers on its platform.

-Nampa/Reuters

Dell exploring IPO option

Dell Technologies Inc confirmed on Wednesday it had met with some investment banks to explore an initial public offering if its plan to buy the tracking stock of VMware Inc falls through.

Dell, which owns 80% of VMware, said in July it would buy the tracking stock in a US$21.7 billion cash-and-stock deal, to return to the public market.

Several hedge funds, including Elliott Management Corp and Canyon Capital Advisors LLC, as well as activist investor Carl Icahn, had resisted Dell’s effort to buy back the “tracking stock” from them.

-Nampa/Reuters

Toyota, SoftBank to partner

Toyota Motor Corp and SoftBank Group Corp said they would team up to develop new transport services, adding to a slew of deals aimed at sharing costs and securing expertise in technologies which promise to drastically change the way people use cars.

The partnership between Japan’s top automaker and tech firm shows that even the biggest, well-funded players fear being left behind in the race to develop self-driving and connected cars.

The companies said in a statement they will form a new joint venture would be called MONET, short for mobility network, that will start with 2 billion yen (US$17.5 million) in capital. SoftBank will hold a 50.25% stake with Toyota owning the rest.

-Nampa/Reuters

Toys 'R' Us lenders cancel auction

The top lenders of Toys ‘R’ Us have decided to cancel the bankruptcy auction of its brand name and other intellectual property assets and instead plan to revive the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us brand names, a court filing on Monday showed.

The bankrupt retailer’s debtors aim to open a new Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us branding company that maintains existing global license agreements and can invest and develop new retail shops.

The lenders also plan to expand its international presence and further develop its private brands business.

The bids were not superior to the plan to revive the brand as it did not offer “probable economic recovery” to creditors as well as benefits to stakeholders who would maintain the brands under the new independent US business, the court filing showed.

Toys “R” Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September last year, hoping to restructure some US$5 billion in debt, much of which stemmed from a US$6.6 billion leveraged buyout by private equity firms in 2005.

But the company changed course in March, saying it would sell its operations in Canada, Asia and Europe, and shut down in the United States.

Under the intellectual property auction, the company had planned to sell its assets, including the brand names of Toys ‘R’ Us, Babies ‘R’ Us, registry lists, website domains, Geoffrey the Giraffe and other assets.

-Nampa/Reuters

Walmart acquires plus-sized clothing startup Eloquii

Walmart Inc on Tuesday said it will acquire Eloquii, a fashion startup that sells plus-sized clothing, for an undisclosed amount as it continues to look for ways to appeal to younger shoppers and differentiate from rival Amazon.com Inc.

Eloquii, a four-year-old startup, sells apparel starting at size 14 through its own website and through five of its own stores. Walmart, the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, said Eloquii has seen its revenue grow by three times since 2015, without giving more details.

Plus-size apparel is part of a US$21 billion market and represents one of the fastest growing segments in women’s apparel, Walmart said in a statement. More than half of women between the ages of 18 to 65 in the United States wear size 14 or higher, the retailer said.

“These customers have been historically underserved, with clothing limited by its lack of fashion, lack of fit, or both,” Walmart said.

-Nampa/Reuters