Tamedia acquires Ricardo Group
Tamedia is acquiring the Ricardo Group from the South African media conglomerate Naspers for 240 million Swiss francs. The Ricardo Group operates Ricardo.ch, Autoricardo.ch, Olx.ch, and Ricardoshops.ch.
With the takeover by Tamedia, the Ricardo Group returns to Swiss ownership. With its investment in the Ricardo Group, Tamedia aims to strengthen its position in the Swiss online market. The media group is expanding its digital portfolio, which already includes offerings such as Doodle, Homegate.ch, Jobs.ch, Trendsales and Zattoo, to 13 companies that are active in several European countries as well as North America in addition to Switzerland. Christoph Tonini, Chief Executive Officer of Tamedia: "The investment in the Ricardo Group is a decisive strategic step for us. We want to further develop the core business of the Ricardo Group thanks to network effects with our own media such as 20minuten.ch and, among other things, exploit synergies between the fast-growing classified ad platforms Olx.ch and Tutti.ch." By joining forces, Autoricardo.ch and Car4you.ch aim to create a strong alternative to AutoScout24 in the car market.
Ricardo.ch was founded in Baar, Zug, in November 1999 and has belonged to the South African media group Naspers since 2008. Over the past 15 years, Ricardo.ch has become one of the strongest brands in the Swiss online market. With over 2.3 million registered members and over CHF 660 million in merchandise sales, Ricardo.ch is the clear leader in the Swiss e-commerce market. Christian Kunz, CEO of the Ricardo Group, sees great potential in the acquisition: "As a leading Swiss media company, Tamedia brings not only the strategic focus but also unique synergies to jointly write the next chapter in Ricardo's success story."
The Ricardo Group, headquartered in Zug, employs around 190 people in Switzerland and a 30-strong development team in France. In 2014, the company generated sales of around CHF 40 million. A very profitable core business was offset by investments of a similar magnitude in the expansion of Olx.ch, Autoricardo.ch and the launch costs for Ricardoshops.ch.
According to the announcement, the purchase price is 240 million Swiss francs. The transaction is subject to approval by the Swiss Federal Competition Commission.
