The Birth of X-Commerce as eBay Agrees to Acquire Magento
In what could well be the biggest open source news this year, it was announced yesterday that eBay has agreed to acquire Magento
Posted by Killian McAleese, 7th June 2011
The connection between eBay and Magento isn't new. For one thing, PayPal, an eBay company, has been an active Magento Strategic Industry Partner for some time now. And for another, any Magento merchant is well aware of the importance of eBay as a channel for online retail, Magento users included.
But more significantly, eBay has been an investor in Magento since March 2010. Not only that, but the auction site was the first ever outside investor in the open source company, indicating a strong, involved relationship for at least the past year.
It should hardly have been surprising then, in light of Megento's continued meteoric rise, that eBay wanted to increase their holdings. It's no secret that eBay's interest was a great bet.
'Exciting'
But perhaps it is somewhat surprising that Magento has now conceded not to remain on the whole independent.
In a move that Magento CEO Roy Rubin said is “so exciting for all of us,” eBay's role in the relationship is being styled as a “strategic commerce partner” and Magento “will be at the core of this new, open commerce platform” called X.Commerce.
Rubin's account of eBay's plans for Magento sound very like Magento. According to the CEO, eBay is building “a global, open commerce platform that leverages the worldwide developer community”.
'Incredible Opportunities'
“We are thrilled to become part of a larger organization that recognizes – as we always have – that the future of eCommerce is global, innovative and open.”
Elsewhere, Rubin claimed that the move would create "incredible opportunities for the entire Magento ecosystem."
And it's this ecosystem, the Magento community of developers, customers, employees and partners, that crops up several times throughout the two key Magento announcements.
'Business Model'
The eBay acquisition will "exponentially accelerate" the growth of the ecosystem, according to Rubin, while at the same time allowing "greater flexibility for innovation" and access to new tools.
Interestingly, when Rubin goes on to list what he believes were eBay's original reasons for pursuing investment in Magento, "excited about our business model" is first on his list.
From Magento's point of view, then, all would seem to be staying the same where it is favourable to do so, whereas expansion and innovation, already Magento characteristics, will only improve.
What role then, for X.Commerce?
We look forward to hearing more.
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