Souq.com was the largest

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platform in the

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. The company launched in 2005 in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. On March 28, 2017, Amazon.com Inc. acquired Souq.com for $580 million as a subsidiary. On May 1, 2019, Souq.com UAE became known as Amazon.ae, while on June 17, 2020, Souq.com KSA became known as Amazon.sa. On September 1, 2021, Souq.com Egypt became known as Amazon.eg, marking the end of Souq.com.

History

The website was founded in 2005 by Ronaldo Mouchawar and was originally a consumer-to-consumer auction site part of Maktoob Group. In 2010, Wisam (Sam) Daoud joined Souq from

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

as Chief Technology Officer and led the transformation of the business from auctions to a fixed price catalog based business similar to Amazon.com. In late 2012 Asif Keshodia joined as CFO on the heel of Souq's first major funding round led by Cape Town, South Africa-based Naspers and NYC hedge fund Tiger Global Management. In March 2014, Naspers invested another $75 million in the company, bringing the total to $150 million that Souq.com had raised since its inception, the largest amount raised by any internet-based business in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. The company was backed by Tiger Global Management and Naspers Ltd. as of 2015, among other companies, and headquartered in

. In October 2015, it was reported that in a round of fundraising, the company was valued at around $1 billion. At the time, it had around 10 million visitors monthly in the 2nd place after Digikala with 51 million visitors monthly. On March 27, 2017,

Emaar Properties Emaar Properties (or simply Emaar) is an Emirati real estate development company located in the United Arab Emirates. The two largest shareholders are Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the UAE's sovereign wealth fund Investment Corpor ...

made an offer for Souq of $800 million. On March 28, 2017, Amazon.com Inc. confirmed it would be acquiring Souq.com for an unknown value. A source told ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' the deal was worth around $700 million, while the ''

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'' reported that the deal was "understood to be worth more than $650m". The

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also reported that Amazon might be paying about $650 million. The deal was expected to be completed later in 2017. With the acquisition, Souq.com became a subsidiary of Amazon, acting as Amazon's arm into the Arab world. In May 2019, Souq.com UAE became Amazon.ae, and in September of the same year Amazon launched the Amazon DSP in the UAE. In June 2020, Souq.com KSA became amazon.sa. On September 1, 2021, Souq.com Egypt became amazon.eg, marking the end of Souq.com.

Overview

As of March 2017, it sold over 8.4 million products in 31 categories, including "consumer electronics, fashion, health and beauty, household goods and baby." It also had around 45 million visits per month. It was the largest e-commerce platform in the

in 2016, often described as the

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of the

. As of 2014, the site delivered to the

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, and

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. By March 2017, Souq.com had localized operations in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, which as of 2014 equated to semi-automated modern fulfillment centers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt, measuring a total of 35,000 square meters. At the time the company had employed around 2,500 employees in engineering, retail, customer support, fulfillment, and last mile delivery sections. As of September 1, 2021, Souq.com has been completely replaced by

as Egypt replaced Souq.com Egypt with Amazon.eg.

Souq.com subsidiaries

As of January 2018, Souq.com subsidiaries include their delivery arm – QExpress, payment platform – Payfort which became Amazon Pay in Dec 2020, repair and service marketplace – Helpbit, and delivery marketplace

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

History

Overview

Souq.com subsidiaries

See also

References

Further reading