Republic of Korea: Fair Trade Commission conditionally approved Shinsegae–Alibaba joint venture requiring Gmarket and AliExpress Korea to block consumer data sharing due to competition concerns

On 18 September 2025, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) issued a ruling regarding the merger between Shinsegae and Alibaba Group, culminating in the formation of the Gmarket-AliExpress joint venture. The deal involves Apollo Korea, a Shinsegae affiliate, acquiring a 50% stake in Grand Ophus Holdings, an Alibaba affiliate. This acquisition will give Shinsegae and Alibaba joint control over Grand Ophus Holdings. Grand Ophus Holdings, in turn, will fully own both G Market and AliExpress Korea. G Market is currently the third-highest ranked e-commerce provider in Korea. AliExpress Korea has rapidly grown its influence and user base, recently surpassing G Market in Monthly Active Users. Therefore, the KFTC believes this merger will significantly impact the Korean e-commerce market, and the transaction is considered a horizontal combination in the open market sector. The KFTC identified an anti-competitive effect of combining Gmarket's rich domestic consumer data with AliExpress's global consumer preference data and advanced analytics, and imposed conditions for approval. The primary condition mandates the separation of domestic consumer data between Gmarket and AliExpress, preventing its shared use in direct purchase markets. In addition, it specifically prohibited the mutual use of consumer data for the overseas direct purchase market. The ruling also requires Gmarket and AliExpress to operate independently to maintain personal information protection and data security standards. These orders are valid for three years, extendable upon further KFTC review. The decision, which addresses the anti-competitive risk of combining comprehensive domestic and global consumer data sets, sets a precedent in considering consumer information as a competitive asset in merger evaluations.