Who owns Trade Me now?

Trade Me has been owned by funds advised by Apax Partners since May 7, 2019, when they bought 100% of shares for NZ$6.45 each, valuing the company at roughly NZ$2.56bn (about US$1.7bn), reportedly the largest private equity deal in New Zealand history.

Is Trade Me profitable in 2026?

No verified public profit figures exist since Trade Me went private in 2019 under Apax Partners. Third-party revenue estimates (IBISWorld, ZoomInfo, Growjo) conflict wildly and are unreliable; Trade Me itself has not disclosed current profitability.

Is Facebook Marketplace killing Trade Me's business?

As of May 2026 there is only anecdotal evidence, not measured data, that Facebook Marketplace is eroding Trade Me's general-goods listings. Trade Me's core verticals, Motors, Property and Jobs, remain led by Trade Me and are still contested rather than lost.

Could AI replace Trade Me's marketplace?

Unlikely soon: Trade Me's moat is 25+ years of two-sided network effects, NZ-specific trust and a proprietary payment rail called Ping, not a tech stack. As of July 2026 Trade Me has shipped no agentic-commerce AI features, only marketing AI via Twilio Segment (vendor-claimed 20% open-rate lift).

Who is Trade Me's biggest competitor in jobs listings?

Seek (seek.co.nz) is the dominant jobs-classifieds rival to Trade Me Jobs; parent Seek Group is ASX-listed with historically over AUD $1bn in revenue, dwarfing Trade Me's jobs vertical, per older third-party benchmarking data.

When did Trade Me acquire a stake in Stuff Digital?

Trade Me acquired a 50% stake in Stuff Digital (stuff.co.nz, ThreeNews) on June 1, 2025, rebranding Stuff's property section as Trade Me Property, though Stuff retains operational control via a chair's casting vote.

E-commerce and marketplaces · subsidiary of Apax Partners (via Titan Parent New Zealand Limited) · New Zealand

Trade Me

trademe.co.nz ↗

New Zealand's dominant online marketplace for general goods, cars, property, and jobs.

Defensible for now

Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026

Real protection, with named pressure against it.

On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from Q4 2025 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Stuff Digital integration rollout finishes, testing whether combined property/motoring/news audience holds off Facebook

The call

Trade Me still runs New Zealand's marketplace habit, but Facebook's free listings and Apax's eventual exit are two separate slow-moving tests of that habit.

Trade Me is New Zealand's biggest online marketplace where people buy and sell cars, homes, jobs, and everyday items. It's hard to replace because it has millions of buyers and sellers who trust each other through verified profiles and a custom payment system called Ping, plus it just merged with Stuff Digital (which owns property, car, and news websites). However, Facebook Marketplace is free and already taking some listings, and Trade Me hasn't built tools that let buyers search and negotiate automatically across many listings like newer AI shopping assistants can do. The biggest wildcard is when the private equity owner (Apax) sells or takes the company public: that timing and price are completely out of any employee's hands and will decide if equity rewards ever actually pay out.

Why

AI pressure: Agentic-commerce interfaces (Kraken MCP, Robinhood/Coinbase-style agent layers). No agent lets NZ buyers or sellers transact on Trade Me yet; Trade Me itself only uses AI for marketing (Twilio Segment), not listings or checkout. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.

Bigger players: Facebook Marketplace. Free listings are pulling general-goods sellers away anecdotally, though Motors, Property, and Jobs verticals haven't shown measured share loss yet. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.

What protects it. 25 years of two-sided habit and trust (verified reputations, the Ping payment rail) in a market too small for rivals to rebuild fast.

What would change this call

Trade Me or Meta publishes measured NZ listing/GMV data showing share shift in general goods. Would confirm whether Facebook Marketplace erosion is real or still just anecdotal.
NZ Commerce Commission opens formal investigation or enforcement action against Trade Me. Would show consumer complaints are escalating beyond routine enquiry volume.
Apax Partners announces a sale, IPO relisting, or dividend recap of Trade Me. Would mark the PE exit event that determines equity liquidity for staff.

Key numbers

Revenue NZ$337.9m (estimate) (FY2024)
839 employees, 79% NZ-based (Dec 2025)
8th most-flagged company to NZ Commerce Commission, 162 complaints (2025)

Named risks

Apax Partners has held Trade Me since May 2019, exit timing and equity treatment for staff outside company control. Severity: medium
Anecdotal reports of Facebook Marketplace eroding general-goods listings could formalize into measured share loss. Severity: medium
No shipped agentic-commerce AI features while adjacent sectors (Kraken, Robinhood, Coinbase) roll out AI-agent interfaces. Severity: medium
Stuff Digital labor unrest (August 2025 strike vote) could disrupt shared Trade Me Property content operations. Severity: low
Ranked 8th most-enquired-about company to NZ Commerce Commission in 2025 (162 enquiries) signals ongoing regulatory attention. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Facebook Marketplace	gaining on	Anecdotal erosion of general-goods listings reported May 2026, not measured share data
Seek	contesting	ASX-listed Seek Group, historically AUD $1bn+ revenue, dominant in NZ jobs classifieds
realestate.co.nz and OneRoof	contesting	Dedicated NZ property listing sites compete directly with Trade Me Property vertical
AutoTrader NZ, Turners, 2 Cheap Cars	contesting	Motor-vehicle vertical competitors challenging Trade Me Motors
AliExpress, Temu, Shein, Amazon, eBay	gaining on	Global e-commerce platforms drawing NZ shoppers to lower-cost new goods, per 2024 commentary

Questions people ask

Who owns Trade Me now?: Trade Me has been owned by funds advised by Apax Partners since May 7, 2019, when they bought 100% of shares for NZ$6.45 each, valuing the company at roughly NZ$2.56bn (about US$1.7bn), reportedly the largest private equity deal in New Zealand history.
Is Trade Me profitable in 2026?: No verified public profit figures exist since Trade Me went private in 2019 under Apax Partners. Third-party revenue estimates (IBISWorld, ZoomInfo, Growjo) conflict wildly and are unreliable; Trade Me itself has not disclosed current profitability.
Is Facebook Marketplace killing Trade Me's business?: As of May 2026 there is only anecdotal evidence, not measured data, that Facebook Marketplace is eroding Trade Me's general-goods listings. Trade Me's core verticals, Motors, Property and Jobs, remain led by Trade Me and are still contested rather than lost.
Could AI replace Trade Me's marketplace?: Unlikely soon: Trade Me's moat is 25+ years of two-sided network effects, NZ-specific trust and a proprietary payment rail called Ping, not a tech stack. As of July 2026 Trade Me has shipped no agentic-commerce AI features, only marketing AI via Twilio Segment (vendor-claimed 20% open-rate lift).
Who is Trade Me's biggest competitor in jobs listings?: Seek (seek.co.nz) is the dominant jobs-classifieds rival to Trade Me Jobs; parent Seek Group is ASX-listed with historically over AUD $1bn in revenue, dwarfing Trade Me's jobs vertical, per older third-party benchmarking data.
When did Trade Me acquire a stake in Stuff Digital?: Trade Me acquired a 50% stake in Stuff Digital (stuff.co.nz, ThreeNews) on June 1, 2025, rebranding Stuff's property section as Trade Me Property, though Stuff retains operational control via a chair's casting vote.

Timeline

2025-08Stuff Digital staff vote to strike over collective agreement dispute
2025-06-01Trade Me acquires 50% stake in Stuff Digital, rebrands property section
2019-05-07Apax Partners completes acquisition at NZ$6.45/share, NZ$2.56bn valuation
2011-12Trade Me floats on NZX under ticker TME
2006Fairfax acquires Trade Me for NZ$700m
1999Trade Me founded by Sam Morgan

Revision history

22 July 2026

First assessed. Defensible for now. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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