Amazon.com has agreed to acquire Middle East online retailer Souq.com, the two companies said in a joint statement on 28th March 2017.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
By becoming part of the Amazon family, they will be able to vastly expand delivery capabilities and customer selection much faster, as well as continue Amazon's great track record of empowering sellers.
The co founder of Souq is Syrian-born entrepreneur Ronaldo Mouchawar.
Souq.com is the Dubai-based company which was started 12 years ago by Mouchawar.
It appears competition was fierce to acquire Souq.com, with the Amazon deal announced just a day after Dubai-based Emaar Malls confirmed offering $800 million to acquire the site.
Founded in 2005 as an auction site, Souq.com has evolved into a retailer and a marketplace for third-party sellers. The company says it attracts more than 24 million unique visits per month.
Souq.com won a major vote of confidence last year and emerged as the highest-valued internet company in the region when it secured $275 million in funding from international investors to support its growth.
At the time, the e-commerce market in the Middle East was growing very fast and expected to reach $20 billion in 2016.
Souq.com attracts over 45 million visits per month.
Amazon Retail- Amazon has been expanding into areas including cloud computing and streaming video where it is trying to rival Netflix.
- But retail remains at its core.
- Its retail operations have been taking in $26 billion in North America and $14 billion in the rest of the world in the last quarter of 2016.
