Online deals specialist LivingSocial has signed a definitive agreement to acquire South Korean social commerce website TicketMonster.

Published: 03 Aug 2011

Online deals specialist LivingSocial has signed a definitive agreement to acquire South Korean social commerce website TicketMonster.

The deal is subject to Korean regulatory approval. Terms of the deal were not released.

Founded in 2010, TicketMonster offers daily and instant deals, travel packages, and events to more than two million members in Korea and Malaysia. After closing, TicketMonster’s 600 employees will become part of the LivingSocial team.

Following regulatory review and approval, the acquisition of TicketMonster will bring the total number of countries LivingSocial operates in to 23. Other countries in Asia with LivingSocial operations include the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, through the Ensogo and DealKeren acquisitions announced earlier this summer.

Daniel Shin, CEO of TicketMonster, said, “Joining LivingSocial will give TicketMonster the resources, scale and reach to bring our business to the next level across the region while providing even better services for our customers.”

Among other new features, TicketMonster recently launched its location-based service TMON NOW, a real-time deal service connecting local merchants and customers who are searching for their services.

There are more than 500 online daily deal providers in South Korea, according to a spokeswoman at TicketMonster, reported Reuters. TicketMonster, which opened in May last year, tops Korea’s online daily deal market with an around 45 percent share, and reported transactions worth 100 billion won ($95.2 million) in the first half of this year.