LivingSocial exits Asia after selling its business to iBuy Group for $18.5 million

Daily deals startup LivingSocial, which competes with Groupon, has called it quits in Asia. The company announced today (as spotted by Tech 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.

LivingSocial’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.

LivingSocial has had a rough 2013. In July, it closed its New York office space and terminated the local events division there, less than one month after the company closed the doors on its Seattle office. The service also suffered a 40-hour outage in November that affected its website, apps, and merchant center. In January this year, it was announced that LivingSocial CEO and co-founder Tim O’Shaughnessy will be stepping down later in the year.

The 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. In November 2013, LivingSocial also sold its Korean-based Ticket Monster business for $260 million in cash and stock.