Ebay to buy third of Chinese auction house

A REPORT IN the Wall St Journal said that top auction house Ebay is to buy a stake in EachNet, a Shanghai based auction house and the top one in China.

But perhaps the opening line of the WSJ story, which describes Tibetan skull bowls as being on sale, is rather an unfortunate gaffe, given that China believes Tibet is part of its big family, while the Dalai Lama and most of the people in the "province" want to be alone.

According to the paper, Ebay will pay $30 million for a third of EachNet when it announces the deal later today, with an option to buy the whole of the business later, if it wants.

The paper says that online auctions are growing fast in mainland China and it is "excited" about the "middle class" buying more and more online over the next few years.

It quotes an Ebay suit as saying this might be one of the largest e-commerce markets in the world.

We'd say there's no "might" about it. µ Wall St Journal - external: pay up