The story
History
Allegro was founded in Poznań in 1999 as an online auction website. It became part of British online auction company QXL Ricardo, which was renamed Tradus plc in 2007. Tradus was acquired by South African media group Naspers in 2008.
In 2016, Naspers sold Allegro to a consortium of investment funds advised by Cinven, Permira and Mid Europa Partners. Allegro was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in October 2020 in what was then the largest initial public offering in Poland's history.
In April 2022, Allegro completed the acquisition of Mall Group and logistics company WE|DO, its first major international acquisition. Allegro subsequently launched its marketplace in the Czech Republic in May 2023, Slovakia in February 2024 and Hungary in October 2024.
Allegro then restructured Mall Group, closing the legacy Mall online stores in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in 2025.
In 2026, it sold its Slovenian and Croatian operations, including Mimovrste in Slovenia and Mall.hr in Croatia, to German investment company Mutares, completing the restructuring of the former Mall Group.
2016 Christmas ad
Allegro's 3 minute 2016 Christmas advertisement featured an elderly Polish man teaching himself English in order to communicate with the granddaughter he is about to meet for the first time when he visits his son in London for Christmas. It was highly praised on social media and has been viewed over 20 million times on YouTube.
From Wikipedia’s article on Allegro (website), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4