Yahoo Japan bids for control of fashion e-tailer Zozo for $3.7 billion

TOKYO: Yahoo Japan Corp on Thursday offered to buy the majority of online fashion retailer Zozo Inc for 400 billion yen ($3.70 billion), to better compete against rivals Amazon.com Inc and Rakuten Inc .

As part of the offer, Zozo founder Yusaku Maezawa has agreed to sell a stake of around 30%, leaving him with about 6%. He will also step down as chief executive of the retailer, which has struggled of late following a series of botched initiatives.

Yahoo Japan’s offer of 2,620 yen per Zozo share represents a premium of around 21% versus Wednesday’s closing price. The stock jumped as much 19% in early Tokyo trade, while Yahoo Japan shares rose as much as 6% in a near-flat market.