Social Shopping Site Multiply Shuts Down [Updated with CEO Statement]

Multiply has just announced that it will be shutting down on 6 May 2013 and cease all operations by 31 May 2013.

We have just received an email from Multiply CEO Stefan Magdalinski who said that aside from the statement below, the company "won't be making further comments, as our focus now is on looking after our employees, our merchants, our buyers and ensuring an orderly transition for all."

Multiply Statement:

JAKARTA (Friday, April 26, 2013) -- It is with deep regret that today we are announcing the closure of Multiply on May 6, 2013 and ceasing all business operations as of May 31, 2013.

“About a year ago, our local Multiply teams were given the mighty challenge of totally re-inventing the company,” said Stefan Magdalinski, Multiply CEO. “After much effort, we are forced to admit that we were not able to pull it off. I’m proud of my team for their diligence and determination, despite the disappointing outcome.”

Multiply will maintain normal site operations through May 6th, at which point the marketplace will close, and will wind down operations throughout the month of May to provide its merchants time to find and migrate to alternative ecommerce platforms, settle all payments on items bought and delivered, and generally minimize disruption to our merchants’ businesses.

In the meantime, Multiply’s shareholder MIH remains very optimistic about ecommerce in Indonesia and the Philippines and has recently increased its investment into its successful general classifieds businesses there -- namely Tokobagus.com (Indonesia) and Sulit.com.ph (Philippines) who are #1 in each of their respective markets.