After years of decline, ContextLogic has sold its discount shopping app Wish for approximately $173 million in cash to Qoo10, an ecommerce platform that operates localized online marketplaces throughout Asia.
Qoo10 is headquartered in Singapore and operates marketplaces in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, mainland China and Hong Kong. In 2018 its Japanese marketplace was spun off and sold to Ebay, which had previously been an investor in Qoo10 parent company Giosis.
The acquisition of Wish is expected to close in Q2 2024, after which the Wish brand and platform will become part of the Qoo10 family of businesses. While not explicitly stated by either ContextLogic or Qoo10, it appears that Wish will continue to operate as a standalone marketplace within the Qoo10 ecosystem.
ContextLogic CEO Joe Yan said that he expects the acquisition to be beneficial to both Wish’s sellers and its shoppers: “Integrating the Wish platform into Qoo10 will create a true global cross-border ecommerce platform to support the massive market demand,” said Yan in a statement. “Upon close, we expect the new Wish platform will have an improved customer experience through increased product assortment and merchant selection. And for our merchants, we will be able to offer fully integrated logistical capabilities to deliver unmatched cost-efficient services with high quality control and transparency.”
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“Wish has innovative technology that provides highly entertaining, personalized shopping experiences for its users while serving as one of the largest global ecommerce platforms,” added Young Bae Ku, CEO and Founder of Qoo10 in a statement. “By combining our operating expertise and Wish’s technology and data science capabilities, we expect to drive greater success for merchants while providing an even greater marketplace for consumers globally.”
Writing on the Wall: New Competitors Put Pressure on Wish
When it debuted back in 2010, Wish was the only game in town when it came to manufacturer-direct discount shopping apps. But times have changed dramatically in the 14 intervening years: Temu, which debuted in September 2022, is now the top shopping app on the Apple App Store in the U.S., followed by former #1 Shein. Wish, which held that top spot back in 2018, has now dropped out of the top 50 completely.
After several years of declines and a host of executive switch-ups (particularly in the CEO role), Wish began a major overhaul of its business and launched a marketing blitz to “reintroduce” itself to consumers in August 2022. The very next month Temu debuted in the U.S. and then made sure everyone knew about it with a spot in advertising’s biggest game, the Super Bowl. The meteoric rise of Shein and Temu, so similar to Wish’s own early trajectory, proved there was still demand for Wish’s original proposition, but the OG value-shopping app had more than a few hurdles to overcome — not least of which was luring back lapsed consumers who now have alternatives that don’t come with any negative history.
As it reported its less-than-stellar Q2 2023 earnings, Yan and CFO/COO Vivian Liu specifically cited the “competitive landscape” as putting pressure on the business. “The competitive landscape is changing rapidly in the cross-border ecommerce space, and we are experiencing unprecedented headwinds from intensified competition in the industry,” said Liu on the Q2 2023 earnings call. “As a result, we expect user acquisition and retention to remain pressured in the near term, negatively impacting our monthly active users, active buyer count and revenues.”
The sale of Wish to Qoo10 represents a relatively positive outcome for ContextLogic shareholders, with the purchase price of $173 million equating to approximately $6.50 per share, a 44% premium on the stock’s closing price on Feb. 9, 2024. As part of the agreement, ContextLogic, which currently trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker “WISH,” will begin trading under a new symbol within 30 days of the transaction closing.
What the Future Holds for ContextLogic
Without the drag of Wish on its balance sheet, ContextLogic will have limited operating expenses and will be debt-free. ContextLogic’s board said it intends to use the proceeds from the transaction to help monetize its approximately $2.7 billion of Net Operating Loss (NOL) carryforwards, as well as look for a “financial sponsor” to help the company realize the value of its tax assets. If a suitable solution to monetize the NOLs isn’t found, ContextLogic will instead return all capital to shareholders, the company said.
“The board believes the transaction will effectively reduce the cash burn at ContextLogic to near zero, monetize its operating assets at the highest value possible and preserve significant value for shareholders,” said Tanzeen Syed, Chairman of the ContextLogic board in a statement. “At the same time, we believe this is a compelling opportunity for shareholders to directly benefit from the approximately $2.7 billion value of our NOLs as profitable operations are targeted by the continuing business. We also believe there is a significant upside potential to obtaining a long-term aligned capital partner that would support future value creation.”
