07-20-2006, 08:17 AM
Assorted news coverage of eBay's Q2 earnings:
full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/techno....html?_r=1&oref=slogin
full article: http://news.com.com/eBay+meets+estimates...96244.html
full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...01337.html
Quote:EBay Inc., the online auction giant, reported a 14 percent drop in profit for the second quarter Wednesday and said it would try to rejuvenate its core auction business by making it less attractive for merchants to sell through storefronts on its site.
The company also said it would buy back $2 billion of its stock over the next two years, its first such move...
EBay said it would increase the fees it charges to merchants who operate storefronts on its site, in hopes of encouraging them to auction more items...
full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/techno....html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Quote:Web auction leader eBay posted on Wednesday quarterly results matching Wall Street estimates and confirmed fears of slowing growth, but its shares rose 5 percent as it announced a share buyback....
"We were stronger in PayPal and Skype and Shopping.com and had slightly slower growth rates in our core (auction) business," Whitman said. "We think it could be stronger," she added, speaking of the company's mainstay auction business...
full article: http://news.com.com/eBay+meets+estimates...96244.html
Quote:"What has been driving negative sentiment (about the stock) has been the shift toward fixed-priced listings and away from online auctions," Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt said.
By raising prices on fixed-price, or instant purchase listings, and doing more to promote auctions, eBay should see higher commissions and faster sales turnover, he said. "So you could actually get an acceleration of growth later this year."
Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Noto agreed...
full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...01337.html