Two Boeing 747 jets auctioned online in China for $48mn
These days, you can buy pretty much anything and everything online. Two Boeing 747 jumbo jets have been auctioned on Taobao, an Alibaba-owned online auction website in China, for $48 million. The jets belonged to a defunct cargo company and had been seized by a court handling the firm's bankruptcy. The planes were auctioned online after six previous offline auctions failed.
How the jumbo jet auction came to be
The Chinese carrier SF Airlines beat 25 other parties to emerge as the highest bidder and the new owner of the jets. The jumbo jets had been placed in storage in Shanghai and Shenzhen since 2013 after their former owner, Jade Cargo International, filed for bankruptcy. They were seized by a Shenzhen court which had since been seeking a buyer.
Ships worth millions had earlier been auctioned on Taobao
Chinese news agency Xinhua has reported that a third Boeing 747 jet went unsold as only one buyer had registered for the auction. It must be noted that this isn't the first time such large items have been auctioned on Taobao. In January 2017, a Chinese court auctioned a seized ship for $2.4 million. In 2016, another seized ship was auctioned for $112.7 million.
