SEOUL, KOREA - Korea's major social commerce operator TicketMonster will be sold to America's Groupon. TicketMonster said on November 8 that it has finally agreed to be merged with Groupon. It has been only two years since the company was sold to LivingSocial, another American company, in 2011. The price tag for Groupon is US$260 million. The Korean company expects that the deal would be closed by early next year when the Fair Trade Commission approves the transaction.

 

The reason TicketMonster had to bring in a new owner had to do with its dire financial situation to a degree of capital impairment. Last year the company posted an operating loss of 81.7 billion won on 81.5-billion-won sales revenue. Its parent company LivingSocial also took an operating loss of $565 million in the third quarter.

 

Shin Hyun-sung, TicketMonster president, said, "We plan to take advantage of the parent company's global network." Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky, who will visit Korea next week, said, "TicketMonster will be the centerpiece of our Asia strategy."