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"Daily deals startup\u00A0LivingSocial, which competes with\u00A0Groupon, has called it quits in Asia. The company announced today (as spotted by\u00A0Tech in Asia) that it has sold its business in Southeast Asia -- the only region in Asia where it still operated in -- to e-commerce firm iBuy Group for $18.5 million in cash.\r\n\r\nLivingSocial's business in the region spans Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. John Bax, the chief financial officer of LivingSocial, says that the cash will help it go further in product development and marketing in the US and other regions which it still operates in.\r\n\r\nLivingSocial has had a rough 2013. In July, it closed its New York office space and terminated the local events division there,\u00A0less than one month after the company\u00A0closed the doors on its Seattle office. The service also suffered a\u00A040-hour outage\u00A0in November that affected its website, apps, and merchant center. In January this year, it was announced\u00A0that LivingSocial\u00A0CEO and co-founder Tim O\u2019Shaughnessy will be stepping down later in the year.\r\n\r\nThe latest Southeast Asia sale is in line with LivingSocial's strategy to ditch parts of its business that won't contribute to its strategic growth plan.\u00A0In November 2013, LivingSocial also sold its Korean-based Ticket Monster business for $260 million in cash and stock."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/04/02/livingsocial-exits-asia-after-selling-its-business-to-ibuy-group-for-18-5-million/>