Trade Me names Anders Skoe as new chief executive

New Trade Me CEO Anders Skoe will start late July, becoming the company's third chief executive after founder Sam Morgan and Jon Macdonald.

Norway-based Anders Skoe has been named as Trade Me's new chief executive.

He will take up his role around the end of July - the same time that the auction site's $2.56 billion sale to UK-based investment company Apax Partners is due to be finalised.

Skoe is currently the CEO of Finn.no - a similar business to Trade Me, operating across automotive, real estate and employment classifieds, as well as a general items marketplace.

Finn is in turn part of the Norway-based global marketplace and media company Schibsted, of which Skoe is an executive vice-president.

Before joining Finn in 2010, Skoe worked for Google and Radiance Technologies. He has an engineering background.

Currently living in Oslo, Skoe - who has yet to be made available for interviews - lists analytics, agile software development, Google AdSense and online market places among his specialities.

Analysts will be looking to see how he develops Trade Me's push into new goods in the face of new regional competition from Amazon and Alibaba, and whether the newcomer will back a mooted Stuff acquisition.

Skoe will become Trade Me's third CEO after founder Sam Morgan (1999-2008) and Jon Macdonald (2008 to present).

Macdonald said he wanted to move on in June last year, but ended up extending his stay until the sale process was complete.

Trade Me Group shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of a $2.56b Apax takeover on April 3, locking in an annual total return of almost 18 per cent since its 2011 initial public offering.

The $6.45 a share offer attracted more than 99 per cent support, and 66 per cent of issued stock was cast, hitting both thresholds needed in the deal's scheme of arrangement structure.

The deal had already been approved by the Overseas Investment Office.