IronPlanet last week reported 2009 gross equipment sales of $458 million, an increase of 34 percent over 2008. Fourth-quarter gross equipment sales totaled $124 million, up 29 percent over the same period last year.
“I am very pleased with our performance in 2009 and the significant progress we continue to make in building the world’s largest online marketplace for used equipment,” said Gregory Owens, chairman and CEO of IronPlanet. “We continue to focus and respond to what is most important to our sellers and buyers: we increased the frequency of our auctions to a weekly level in North America; we launched our marketplace in Europe and expanded in Australia/Southeast Asia conducting monthly auctions in both regions; and we continued to grow our worldwide base of buyers to deliver fair market value for the equipment we sell.”
In 2009, IronPlanet conducted a record 79 auctions across North America, Europe and Australia; an increase of approximately 40 percent over 2008. Through IronPlanet’s marketplace, approximately 30,000 items were sold — up approximately 65 percent over 2008. In order to better serve global equipment consigners, IronPlanet continued to expand its global sales force, reaching 111 sales personnel at year end, an increase of 37 percent over 2008, including new appointments in the Americas, Australia/Southeast Asia, and Europe.
IronPlanet surpassed more than half a million users registered to IronPlanet’s marketplace in 2009, and averaged approximately 9,000 new user registrations a month during the year. With this expanding global used equipment buyer base, auctions in the U.S. generated significant international participation with approximately 55 percent of items sold receiving international bids and 25 percent of the items sold to buyers outside of the United States.
Headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., IronPlanet is a leading online auction company for used construction and agricultural equipment. IronPlanet is backed by Accel Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Caterpillar, Komatsu and Volvo. For more information, visit www.ironplanet.com.
