Following pressure from shareholders to offload noncore business units, eBay Inc. will reportedly sell its online classified ad unit in a deal worth nearly $9 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported in the early morning hours today that eBay was close to inking a deal with Norwegian firm Adevinta ASA. Adevinta is said to be one of several bidders that made an offer for the classifieds unit. A few hours later, Reuters cited two sources saying that the Norwegian firm has won the auction by agreeing to pay nearly $9 billion.

Adevinta operates online marketplaces in 15 countries that provide access to job postings, vacation rentals, classified ads and other types of listings. The firm had a market capitalization of $8.5 billion on Friday before trading of its shares was paused because of the acquisition rumors. Adventina’s reported purchase of eBay’s classifieds unit for nearly $9 billion would about double its size.

As for eBay, the deal, if it becomes official, will advance the company’s effort of exiting noncore markets to focus on its flagship e-commerce marketplace. The process started last year when activist investor Elliott Management Corp. took a $1.4 billion stake in eBay and sent a letter calling on the leadership to offload secondary business units. Elliot specifically named the classifieds unit along with eBay’s StubHub ticket marketplace, which was sold off not long ago for $4.05 billion.

But eBay is reportedly not exiting the classified ad market entirely. The sources who tipped off Reuters about the sale said the company will keep a minority stake in the classifieds unit after its sale to Adevinta, a move that will reportedly enable eBay to receive a nearly 2 billion euro tax benefit. 

The classifieds business logged an operating income of $83 million on $248 million in sales during the first quarter. During the same three-month period, eBay’s e-commerce marketplace brought in revenues of $2.1 billion and generated an operating income of $761 million. 

Photo: eBay