Supermarket group Woolworths acquired online wine auction business Langton’s for about $13 million yesterday, following nine months of negotiations with owner Stewart Langton.
Langton is now obligated to stay with the business for at least the next three years, according to yesterday’s signed agreement. While the sale is estimated to have totalled between $13 million and $15 million, an official figure has not been disclosed.
Langton started the auction house in Melbourne in 1988 and moved the business online in 2002. The company conducts around 26 online fine wine auctions each year.
Langton says the financial stability of Woolworths will allow him to grow the business “in the way that I want to”.
“As a small independent operator it’s very difficult, so quite simply it was the right deal for me and my business,” he told AAP.
He also claims a large reason for the sale was Woolworths’ interest in the online component of his business.
“We operate fortnightly sales online. Our online presence and our domination of our online wine auction market was of interest to Woolworths because it has a very small online presence and I would suggest that’s something that interests it for the future.”
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Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
