It looks like Multiply CEO Stefan Magdalinsky has an official reply as well, and would not comment further on the exact reasons. His Twitter account (@smagdali) does not mention anything as well.
If you check Multiply.com, you will find this message:
Multiply is closing on May 6
We regret to announce that Multiply will be closing on May 6, 2013 and ceasing all business operations by May 31, 2013.
Multiply will maintain normal site operations through May 6. We will use the rest of May to make sure the all accounts are settled and that merchants receive full payment for all the transactions they completed on our platform. This will also provide our merchants with time to find and migrate to alternative ecommerce platforms, settle all payments on items bought and delivered, and to minimize disruption to their businesses.
Multiply will ensure that you receive all funds you earned on the platform no later than May 31, 2013. We will close the actual marketplace sooner, on May 6, 2013, to ensure that all orders have sufficient time to complete and be delivered to your customers before the end of the month.
Merchants who have premium subscriptions should contact our customer support and we will ensure that they receive a full refund for the un-used time on your subscription.
Very little words, really. Last year, Multiply announced that they will be shifting their focus from social networking into full on eCommerce and it seems they are closing that chapter as well. I have gotten confirmation from Jack Madrid that this is true.
Could it be the influx of new players such as the Rocket Internet group (composed of Zalora and Lazada) or that the boutique / second hand market is really just heavily involved in other forums such as Sulit? Multiply has been a huge enabler for entrepreneurs to set up small garage sales all over the Internet and it’s indeed sad to see them go. You’ll be missed.
UPDATE: Jack Madrid, a friend and country manager of Multiply has posted a much clearer statement on the current state of Multiply. A lot of people were confused with the “We are sorry” note earlier this morning (and I don’t blame them) because it was rather vague. Jack’s post is more concise and reassuring of Multiply’s growth.
Again I will copy + paste:
Dear Multiply Users, Merchants, and Shoppers,
In the past two years or so, Multiply has fully shifted its direction towards supporting and cultivating an already thriving e-commerce community. Since then, it has been our mantra to continuously pave the way for e-commerce in the Philippines while empowering the enterprising Filipino.
With everything that we’ve done to make your Multiply the way it is today, there’s no time for us to step on the brakes, in fact, our new journey has just started and we can assure you we’re all excited.
That being said, in our efforts to further strengthen the Multiply platform and our services as the largest social marketplace in the country, starting December 1, 2012, we will fully transition to e-commerce and focus all of our initiatives in improving just that.
To our valued Multiply users in the social media platform, we encourage you to download your photos, blogs and videos before December 1, 2012. On the other hand, we are pleased to inform our existing and potential sellers and buyers that you will not be affected by this transition at any time in the future.
We’re looking forward to your continuous support.
Thank you,
Jack Madrid
Country Manager
Multiply Philippines
EDIT: Changed wording of some paragraphs to better explain the shift. The original text I wrote gave the impression that the whole operation would be closing down (which was not intended). They are closing Multiply in its current form as a social networking site but will relaunch it in December as an eCommerce platform — the specifics of which we do not know. I have reached out to Stefan and awaiting a response.
Multiply has announced that it is closing operations in its current form; will focus on eCommerce
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A few weeks ago I attended an intimate press conference for popular social networking turned eCommerce site, Multiply. In that conference I met Stefan Magdalinski (@smagdali) the current CEO of Multiply. He revealed to us that Multiply will be bringing in new features that should mature by the end of 2012. As it turns out, these features include MULTIPLY ANNOUNCING THAT THEY ARE SHUTTING DOWN OPERATIONS in its current form. This means that Multiply will continue, but as a 100% eCommerce site as mentioned below. Actually, we don’t know for sure what this truly means. What we’re sure of is that Multiply as we know it will be gone. Here’s a copy + paste of the entire landing page when you point your browsers to the site:
Hello. Stefan here, writing you from Multiply HQ in Jakarta, Indonesia. As most of you are probably aware, Multiply’s mission has evolved over the past year and a half to become the biggest and most beloved ecommerce marketplace in two very exciting markets, Indonesia and the Philippines. As our focus has shifted, we have reviewed all of our operations, and made some decisions that will affect everyone here. From December 1st, we will unfortunately no longer be able to support Multiply in its current form – notably we will be removing the social networking and content sharing part of Multiply (photos, videos, blogs, social messaging, etc.). We have decided to discontinue providing and hosting these services, as we have concluded that other Internet sites who are committed to social networking services will do a better job serving you than we can. For our existing users of social networking features, we will be providing easy ways for you to either download your stuff (photos, blogs, content, etc), or migrate it to other online services. We’ll announce the precise details shortly. It will be your choice whether to download, migrate or just let your content lapse (and get deleted). For our existing ecommerce users (both buyers and sellers) in Indonesia and the Philippines, there will be no action required. Regarding any existing Multiply Premium subscriptions we will refund any unused balance, and apologize for any inconvenience this will cause. Please contact customer service to request a refund. Note that this is for Multiply Premium, not the ecommerce related Multiply Trust product. I am aware of how disruptive this news may be, and understand the disappointment that it may cause. Ultimately this was a business decision, critical to our to success moving forward. Instead, we are excited to pursue our own mission to give the 350 million consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines a great way to buy and sell items online. Our singular focus now is for Multiply to retain its status as a vibrant e-commerce destination in Southeast Asia in the years ahead. I suspect that many of you will not like this news, and am sorry to have to deliver it now. I hope that you will be able to understand the reasons for our decision and thank you for being a part of the Multiply community over the past eight years. Stef
As read above, you will be able to export all your data to other services. This news comes as a sad close to one of the biggest online properties in the Philippines. It is hopefully also a good thing to help push Multiply forward in the eCommerce space in the same way that Friendster transformed itself into a site for social gaming. It seems they are going head on to compete with Rocket Internet’s Zalora and Lazada if I am not mistaken.
