Emaar Malls has submitted an US$800 million bid for Souq.com after months of speculation around potential buyers for the Middle Easte online retailer.
The bid has so far not been accepted by Souq.com’s shareholders, Emaar Malls said in a bourse statement. The Emaar Malls stock fell 2 per cent yesterday.
Speculation about a potential sale of Souq has been circulating for months with Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, linked to the purchase of the site as recently as last week.
China’s Alibaba has also shown interest in the group as well as the Dubai retail group Majid Al Futtaim. However, the Emaar Malls bid surprised many industry watchers.
Last week interest from Amazon.com resurfaced with a bid of about $650m, according to a person familiar with the offer.
The online retailer had reportedly baulked at the asking price of around $1 billion in January and had left the negotiating table.
Amazon and Souq.com have refused multiple requests for comment. Emaar Malls also declined a request for further comment after it released its statement to the Dubai Financial Market.
“Emaar Malls has submitted a bid of $800m for Souq.com in line with the strategy to align e-commerce with physical shopping,” said the statement signed by Ahmad Thani Al Matrooshi, the vice chairman of Emaar Malls. The bid from Emaar Malls has surprised observers because chairman Mohamed Alabbar is also behind the e-commerce platform noon.com.
The ambitious venture, funded by a $1bn investment from the Saudi government and 65 private Arabian Gulf investors, was announced by Mr Alabbar in November and was supposed to launch in January.
The Emaar Malls bid would appear to put Mr Alabbar in competition with himself.
“High drama in our corner of the world,” said Omar Kassim, the founder of market platform JadoPado.com. “An interesting development even though I think the Amazon transaction is almost wrapped up. This will give some shareholders [souq.com] pause as the delta between Amazon’s assumed offer of $650m and Emaar Malls’ bid is $150m [higher].
“The management team have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to achieve the best possible outcome.”
The sale of Souq.com comes as traditional retailers in Dubai start to come under pressure as consumers seek cheaper deals online.
“Bricks and mortar growth is slowing whereas online has huge growth potential,” said David Macadam, the chief executive at the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres.
“Dubai Mall and Marina Mall are fantastic but they cannot offer the growth that online can.
Online sales make up about 3 per cent of the region’s sales against 12-15 per cent in more mature geographies. The bricks and mortar business with the online business would have some great synergies.”
ascott@thenational.ae
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Instant analysis by Sabah Al Binali:
The takeover talk around Souq.com has people talking about what, exactly, the valuation is. To me, that is not the instructive number.
The instructive number is how many years it took to get Souq.com to this point. Founded in 2005, Souq.com is now 12 years old. This is how long it takes to build a company.
If you’re lucky, or based in a large, rich economy like the US, you might get a sale faster than that. I think that it is an important lesson for all entrepreneurs, building a company is a decade long process.
Best of luck to the Souq.com team, they deserve it.
Sabah Al Binali is a weekly columnist for The National.
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
