EMPG-owned Thai Marketplace Kaidee Set to Ditch Transactional Capabilities to Focus on Core Classifieds Competencies

Leading Thailand-based horizontal classifieds player Kaidee has announced that it is to refocus its strategy around its core classifieds business.

Kaidee is a horizontal classifieds player with 35 categories that has been operating in Thailand for over 20 years. The company was acquired by Dubai-based classifieds operator EMPG for an undisclosed sum in 2020.

“Kaidee has been a beloved brand for Thais for over two decades, eventually becoming a modern-day technological representation of the bustling marketplace that is so central to Thai culture. We are now dedicating our complete focus to this central ethos, investing Kaidee’s considerable expertise and technical acumen to growing this tremendous platform further,” said CEO Mark Nosworthy.

Having grown significantly over the last few years, the company will now undergo a restructuring to focus on profitability. According to a press release the process will see Kaidee discontinue "capital-intensive projects launched in recent years" as well as an unknown number of personnel redundancies.

The company's leadership will look to strengthen the platform's position in traditionally profitable verticals such as real estate, where Kaidee competes with PropertyGuru-owned vertical DDproperty, and autos where Kaidee claims market leadership. However transactional products in these categories are likely to be on the chopping block.

“With absolute focus on the classifieds marketplace and a more optimized environment, we are eager to invest our time and focus exclusively to this enterprise going forward, continuing to serve Thailand as the most loved and trusted marketplace by millions of users,” said CCO Mohammad Hossein Rafatnejad.

The news of Kaidee's new focus on profitability comes on the heels of parent company EMPG announcing a $200 million raise led by US-based fund Affinity Partners as it prepares for an IPO in the near future. Kaidee is not the only EMPG-operated classifieds business to announce layoffs recently with Lamudi Mexico having been forced into redundancies last month.

Aside from Kaidee and Lamudi, EMPG operates portal brands Bayut and Mubawab in the MENA region and is the majority shareholder of leading Pakistani real estate vertical Zameen.