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Axel Springer acquires leading Israeli classifieds portal yad2

Tuesday 06. May 2014 - Axel Springer Digital Classifieds (ASDC), the joint venture of Axel Springer and General Atlantic, acquires 100 percent of Coral-Tell Ltd. The company operates the leading classifieds portal yad2 (yad2.co.il) in Israel. The purchase price amounts to approximately EUR 165 million. The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the competent authorities.

yad2, founded in 2005, already has a brand awareness of almost 100 percent in Israel. About 10,000 property, auto and other small classifieds are placed on yad2 every day. Based in Tel Aviv, 100 employees contribute to the company’s success headed by a strong management team under the leadership of CEO Yavin Gill More.
Dr. Andreas Wiele, President Marketing and Classified Ad Models at Axel Springer: “yad2 is the clear market leader, highly profitable and expanding and thereby ideally complementing to our international classifieds portfolio surpassingly.”
Ilan Yeshua, Chairman of yad2: “Axel Springer has a broad experience in the classifieds business and as a leading digital publisher a strong network which will definitely be advantageous to the further development of yad2. Beyond that, Axel Springer is very commited to Israel. I would particularly like to thank the passionate team of yad2 for their performance and dedication. We are truly convinced that the company and its employees will be in good hands.”
Axel Springer SE wants to become the leading digital publisher. The company has aligned its segmentation to the traditional revenue structure of a publisher. As of 2014, the publisher is divided into three segments: Paid models, Marketing models, and Classified ad models. In the first quarter of 2014, for the first time ever, Axel Springer generated more than half of its revenues and earnings in digital activities.
Axel Springer’s online classifieds business is bundled into Axel Springer Digital Classifieds, with Axel Springer holding a 70 percent share, as majority shareholder, and General Atlantic holding a 30 percent share in this company. Along with the European online job portal StepStone and the market-leading job portal in the United Kingdom, Totaljobs, the French-language property portals SeLoger and Immoweb.be, the German property portal Immonet and the German city portal meinestadt.de are all part of Axel Springer Digital Classifieds.