EBAY - eBay Inc.
| Previous close | 38.55 |
| Open | 38.54 |
| Bid | 38.31 x 800 |
| Ask | 38.61 x 2200 |
| Day's range | 38.34 - 38.63 |
| 52-week range | 26.01 - 42.00 |
| Volume | 6,924,194 |
| Avg. volume | 7,341,454 |
| Market cap | 32.175B |
| Beta (3Y monthly) | 1.22 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 14.83 |
| EPS (TTM) | 2.59 |
| Earnings date | 23 Oct 2019 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 0.56 (1.45%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 2019-08-30 |
| 1y target est | 42.24 |
- Bloomberg
Why There's Been an Uptick in C-Suite Departures
Sep.27 -- Andrew Challenger, vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, takes a look at what's behind the increase in CEO departures. He speaks with Bloomberg's Brad Stone on "Bloomberg Technology."
- Bloomberg
Why EBay CEO Devin Wenig Is Stepping Down
Sep.25 -- EBay Inc. Chief Executive Officer Devin Wenig is stepping down amid pressure from activist investors to break the company apart. Bloomberg's Spencer Soper reports on "Bloomberg Technology."
- Yahoo Finance
Steven Mnuchin would like some credit for the Facebook Libra exodus
Mnuchin says Treasury, and not just the senators who sent letters, also warned Libra Association members about their involvement.
- Bloomberg
Libra Loses a Quarter of Its Members as Booking Holdings Exits
(Bloomberg) -- The Libra Association hasn’t officially launched but has already lost a quarter of its membership, as Booking Holdings Inc., an online travel company that operates websites including Kayak.com and Priceline.com, joined Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and four other companies in leaving the controversial cryptocurrency project spearheaded by Facebook Inc.With the departure of Norwalk, Connecticut-based Booking, the Libra Association now has 21 founding members remaining of the original 28 companies that signed on to the association in June. PayPal Holdings Inc., Stripe Inc., MercadoLibre Inc. and EBay Inc. in the past two weeks have also said they would abandon the project.The remaining members of the Libra Association, a nonprofit that would manage the cryptocurrency, planned to meet Monday in Geneva, Switzerland to finalize its governing charter and initial membership.Libra came under intense scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators as soon as Facebook announced the project. Regulators warned that the cryptocurrency, originally set to launch next year, could be used by criminals if not properly monitored, while lawmakers pilloried Facebook’s track record at hearings in July with Libra co-founder David Marcus.Officials in some countries, including Germany and France, announced that they would ban Libra, saying that the currency could be a threat to monetary policy, among other concerns.Visa, Mastercard and Stripe left the project shortly after receiving a letter from Democratic senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, warning that they could face increased scrutiny if they stayed on board.Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Libra-member Coinbase Inc., on Sunday said the pressure felt “un-American.” “Why the need for the intimidation tactics? This would be called anti-competitive/monopolistic behavior if any private company did it,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter.In the face of the departures, Libra has said more than 1,500 companies have expressed interest in joining the association and that the currency wouldn’t launch until it satisfied regulators’ concerns.Developers have continued to advance the open-source code that would underlie Libra. However, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal could have provided critical experience in navigating U.S. financial regulators’ concerns, making their departures particularly painful. Booking Holdings, which has a market capitalization of more than $84 billion, was among the only remaining large, publicly held companies left in the project.Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to testify next week at the House Financial Services Committee on Libra, among other topics.Representatives for the Libra Association didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\--With assistance from Kurt Wagner.To contact the reporters on this story: Joe Light in Washington at jlight8@bloomberg.net;Olivia Carville in New York at ocarville1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Molly SchuetzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 3-Facebook's Libra announces board as support shrinks further
LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Backers of Facebook Inc's Libra cryptocurrency project pledged to forge ahead after selecting a five-member board on Monday, shrugging off the latest member defection by online travel company Booking Holding earlier in the day. The owner of Priceline, Kayak and Booking.com on Monday confirmed that it had pulled out of the group, which is trying to bring digital coins into mainstream commerce. Libra lost its last global payments backers on Friday, when Mastercard Inc and Visa Inc abandoned the Geneva-based Libra Association.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Facebook's Libra faces support test after big payment backers quit
Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency faces a pivotal meeting of backers on Monday, days after the would-be digital coin project suffered a severe blow as major payment firms quit. Mastercard and Visa abandoned the Geneva-based Libra Association on Friday, as did eBay, fintech startup Stripe and payments company Mercado Pago. Politicians and regulators from the United States to Europe have said that Libra risks upsetting global financial stability, undermining users' privacy and facilitating money laundering.
- Simply Wall St.
Estimating The Intrinsic Value Of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY)
Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) by taking the expected...
- Bloomberg
Facebook's Libra Loses Mastercard, Visa in Cascade of Exits
(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc.’s effort to create a cryptocurrency was dealt a blow on Friday after several key partners, including Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc., EBay Inc., Stripe Inc. and Mercado Pago, abandoned the project. The defections followed fierce criticism from global regulators and lawmakers, and have prompted some industry-watchers to question whether the Libra program can survive.The news comes days before the Libra Association, the group that will oversee the digital currency, prepares to convene its members and ask them to sign a charter agreement. The meeting is slated to take place on Monday in Geneva. A Libra Association spokeswoman said on Friday that the gathering will proceed as planned, and that it would announce the first list of official partners once a formal charter is signed.In a statement, the spokeswoman said the group was "focused on moving forward and continuing to build a strong association" as it worked to create "a safe, transparent, and consumer-friendly implementation of a global payment system that breaks down financial barriers for billions of people."When Facebook launched plans for Libra in June, a critical part of its pitch was that major players in the payments and tech industry were supporting it. The cryptocurrency would be run out of Geneva by the organizations that comprised the Libra Association, not solely by Facebook. But now that that alliance appears to be eroding, the project’s future is uncertain."I don’t think Facebook can do this by itself," said Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities told Bloomberg TV. "Short of a big bank stepping in like JPMorgan, I don’t think this could ever happen."In a tweet on Friday, David Marcus, the Facebook executive spearheading the effort, said that the exit of six partners would not derail the effort. "I would caution against reading the fate of Libra into this update," he wrote. "Change of this magnitude is hard. You know you’re on to something when this much pressure builds up."Whether or not Libra implodes, the exits highlight the extreme challenges that lie ahead for the project, which if successful could have a sweeping impact on the global financial system. "It may very well fail completely," said Lisa Ellis, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. Even if it survives, progress will take much longer and "it’s likely to fall into some level of obscurity," she added.Facebook has faced fierce backlash since the company announced plans for Libra. Politicians and regulators around the world have called on Facebook to halt its progress, and some have suggested Libra could be used for illegal money laundering or trafficking schemes.Despite the scrutiny from public officials and the exodus of partners, Facebook remains committed to Libra, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Some people inside the company think the defections are partly driven by established payments providers worrying about a new entrant encroaching on their turf, the person said.In the months since its announcement, Facebook has frequently found itself in the spotlight over the cryptocurrency. Marcus went to Washington in July to testify before Congress about Facebook’s plans. Later this month, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear before the House Financial Services Committee to answer even more questions about Libra.Earlier this week, two U.S. senators cautioned Visa, Mastercard and Stripe to reconsider their involvement in the project. Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Brian Schatz of Hawaii said that Libra poses a risk to not only the financial system, but the payments companies’ broader business. "We urge you to carefully consider how your companies will manage these risks before proceeding," they said a letter to the companies.Mastercard said in a statement that it will "remain focused on our strategy and our own significant efforts to enable financial inclusion around the world," adding, "We believe there are potential benefits in such initiatives and will continue to monitor the Libra effort." Visa said the company would also continue to evaluate whether to join in Libra in the future, and that the company’s "ultimate decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the Association’s ability to fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations."In a statement on Friday, EBay expressed its support for the project, but said it would focus on rolling out its own payments products. “We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member,” an EBay spokesman wrote in the emailed statement. “At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers."Payments giant Stripe, one of the most high-profile startups to sign onto the project, signaled it remained open to working on it in the future. “Stripe is supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people around the world. Libra has this potential,” said a company spokesperson. “We will follow its progress closely and remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage.”The Libra Association is composed of about two dozen organizations, including Facebook. A Lyft Inc. spokeswoman confirmed on Friday that the ride-hailing company remains a member. Other companies that have not signaled plans to leave include Uber Technologies Inc., Spotify Technology S.A., Coinbase Inc. and telecom providers Iliad SA and Vodafone Group Plc. PayPal Holdings Inc. dropped out last week. (Updates with David Marcus comment in 6th paragraph.)\--With assistance from Candy Cheng, Lizette Chapman, Spencer Soper and Lydia Beyoud.To contact the reporters on this story: Kurt Wagner in San Francisco at kwagner71@bloomberg.net;Julie Verhage in New York at jverhage2@bloomberg.net;Jenny Surane in New York at jsurane4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Anne VanderMey, Robin AjelloFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Facebook Q3 2019 Earnings Preview: Time to Buy FB Stock?
Let's take a look at what investors need to know about Facebook and some of its Q3 estimates to help us determine if FB stock might be worth buying before the social media company reports its Q3 2019 earnings results...
- Reuters
Facebook's Libra currency abandoned by major financial companies
The two companies announced they would leave the association Friday afternoon, as did EBay Inc, Stripe Inc. and Latin American payments company Mercado Pago. The latest exodus leaves the Libra Association without any remaining major payments companies as members, meaning it can no longer count on a global player to help consumers turn their currency into Libra and facilitate transactions.
- Market Realist
Women CEOs: 5 Names You Should Know
Of all the Fortune 500 companies, only 5% have women CEOs. We rounded up five of the biggest names investors should know. Here's why.
- Zacks
Is Holiday Season Frenzy Fading for Retail ETFs?
The past trend shows that holiday season shopping euphoria is losing its craze, per Coresight. These retail ETFs may be hit hard if that be the case.
- Yahoo Finance
WeWork, eBay, and Wells Fargo: 2019 has seen a mass exodus of CEOs in the US
In just the past few weeks, the top executives at major U.S. companies including WeWork, eBay, and Juul have left or been forced out of their posts — but they are just the latest exits in a year with an unusually high number of CEO departures.
- Bloomberg
Facebook Libra Payments Partners Waver on Cryptocurrency
(Bloomberg) -- Four payments companies that have joined Facebook Inc. as founding members of the Libra Association are wavering over whether to officially sign on to the cryptocurrency project, according to people familiar with the matter.Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc. and Stripe Inc. are undecided about formally signing onto Libra’s organizing charter because they’re concerned about maintaining positive relationships with regulators who have reservations about the project, the people said.Executives at the payments companies believe Facebook oversold the extent to which regulators were comfortable with the project and are concerned about the perception the social network hasn’t behaved responsibly in other areas -- such as how it has handled user data and privacy, the people said.The Libra Association is asking the 28 founding members to reaffirm their commitment to the cryptocurrency project later this month, according to three people familiar with the matter. Before Libra was unveiled, the companies signed nonbinding letters of intent to explore joining the association.David Marcus, the Facebook executive leading the Libra effort, tweeted Wednesday that the “[first] wave of Libra Association members will be formalized in the weeks to come.” Marcus said he was unaware of any current Libra partners who might abstain from officially joining the organization, but building a new global currency is “hard and requires courage.”“I can tell you that we’re very calmly, and confidently working through the legitimate concerns that Libra has raised by bringing conversations about the value of digital currencies to the forefront,“ he added.Companies that officially join the charter won’t be obligated to immediately contribute an initial $10 million required to invest in the project, according to two of the people. The option to delay the payment reflects the association’s strategy to move the Libra project forward in baby steps, the people said. That would give members more time to work out how their participation might affect the rest of their companies’ operations and regulatory obligations, they said.The signing of the charter could take place as soon as Oct. 14, three people said, and will likely happen in Switzerland, where the nonprofit organization charged with managing the Libra digital currency reserve and global payments network would be headquartered.“Nothing has changed with our involvement with Libra since we came on to participate,” said a Stripe spokesman. “We agreed to work on the charter with these other participants. We continue to work on the charter. We’re still actively involved.” He declined to comment specifically on whether Stripe has hesitations about signing the charter.Spokesmen for Facebook, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and the Libra Association declined to comment.The move to get Libra members to formally sign on is the latest indication that Facebook and its partners are pushing forward with the controversial plan, even after it came under fire from policy makers around the world.Facebook has said repeatedly that the Libra Association will be responsible for making decisions about the currency, so its formal creation could mean that regulators start to get better answers than Facebook has offered so far.Some European finance ministers have threatened to ban Libra in their respective countries and the European Union’s antitrust chief says she’s taken the unusual step of scrutinizing Libra because of the risk it could lead to the creation of a new, entirely separate economy.Meanwhile, development of the technology to underpin Libra is moving faster than internal deadlines, Diogo Monica, co-founder of Anchorage, a technology company that safeguards cryptocurrencies, said in a phone interview. Five association members including Anchorage and Facebook’s digital wallet subsidiary Calibra are already running a test network of nodes, and sending transactions -- not done with real money for now -- to each other, he said.Libra has started addressing regulators’ concerns by making tweaks to its technology and policies, such as its anti-money-laundering policies, Monica added. Hundreds of organizations are on a waiting list hoping to join the association, Monica said, but no additional members have been admitted yet, he said.Opponents of the plan say Libra, which would be backed by a pool of traditional currencies, could undercut countries’ monetary policies or be used for nefarious purposes. U.S. lawmakers this summer grilled Marcus, questioning whether Facebook could be trusted to expand into financial services. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg last month told senators that the currency wouldn’t launch anywhere in the world without U.S. regulators’ blessing.Facebook announced the project in June to make international payments as simple as texting. It draws on big names in the payments, technology, telecom and blockchain industries, including EBay Inc., Uber Technologies Inc., blockchain startups Coinbase Inc. and Xapo Inc., and Vodafone Group Plc, as well as venture capital companies and non-profit organizations.Why Everybody (Almost) Hates Facebook’s Digital Coin: QuickTakeEven as Facebook has publicly drawn fire, the Libra organization’s members have worked in the background to hash out details of a chartering document to formally establish the non-profit so that the group’s work to stand up the payments system can move forward.The work has proven contentious due to continued uncertainty about the regulatory implications of the project, according to two of the people.“Since June the Association has met with numerous regulators and policy makers,” said Dante Disparte, a spokesman for the Libra Association, in an email. “Additionally the group of founding members have held regular meetings to discuss appropriate regulatory requirements for operating a payment system, as well as conforming to anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism, privacy and other standards.”(Updates with comment from the Libra Association in the last paragraph.)\--With assistance from Olga Kharif and Kurt Wagner.To contact the reporters on this story: Lydia Beyoud in Arlington at lbeyoud2@bloomberg.net;Joe Light in Washington at jlight8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Mark Niquette, Andrew PollackFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
France Wants to Harvest Facebook Data to Catch Tax Fraudsters
(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to give tax authorities the power to harvest data from Facebook, Instagram and other social media to help detect fraud.The government wants parliament to include an article in the 2020 budget law granting the new powers to officials from the tax and customs administrations. The state will also screen online market places like EBay Inc., Vinted, or Le Bon Coin as part of a trial program that is slated to run for three years.“This is not about searching your personal data,” Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin said on LCI television Wednesday. “This is about some people who are trying to dodge taxes.”He said the government was ready to see the article amended by lawmakers but he hopes it will be maintained.Macron’s administration is pushing ahead with the plan despite the objections of the national privacy regulator. The Paris-based organization said on Sept. 30 that the plan marks a step change in the government’s use of personal data.“This mechanism presents very particular challenges from the point of view of freedoms, given the impact of the mechanism on privacy and its possible effects on freedom of expression online,” it said.France is not the first country to screen social media for tax reasons. In 2018, the U.K. authorities started to gather internet data for the same purposes.Under the French plan, data will initially remain on state servers for 30 days and will be retained for up to a year where there is a suspicion of fraud, the government said Tuesday.France’s National Assembly will start reviewing the budget law on Oct. 14.To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Geraldine AmielFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
PayPal (PYPL) vs. Square (SQ): Which Fintech Stock is a Better Buy?
Everyone from Google to Apple is expanding within fintech. So is now the time to buy PayPal (PYPL) or Square (SQ) stock on the dip?
- Bloomberg
FCC’s Gutting of Obama-Era U.S. Net Neutrality Rules Upheld
(Bloomberg) -- A U.S. appeals court upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to gut Obama-era “net neutrality” rules, handing a victory to broadband providers and a loss to companies that rely on the internet to reach consumers.The court in a 3-0 decision ratified the FCC’s 2017 reversal of the earlier rules, even as the judges eased the path for states to issue their own rules.The decision assures more struggles over net neutrality, a policy of treating web traffic equally that has moved from tech jargon to cultural touchstone, with TV personalities such as John Oliver jumping into the debate.The FCC claimed a win. Its Republican majority led by an appointee of President Donald Trump in 2017 voted to kill rules that required broadband providers such as Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. to treat all web traffic equally.“Today’s decision is a victory for consumers, broadband deployment, and the free and open internet,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. “The court affirmed the FCC’s decision to repeal 1930s utility-style regulation of the internet imposed by the prior administration.”Net-neutrality supporters seized on a part of the ruling that will permit states to come up with their own internet regulations.“It is clear that the fight over net neutrality is just beginning,” Andrew Jay Schwartzman, an attorney for challengers to the FCC rule, said in an email. “The FCC can try to fix its mistakes, but the court made it clear that the commission cannot block states from passing their own net neutrality statutes and issuing executive orders.”Tuesday’s ruling is a win for the broadband industry and a setback for companies that rely on the internet for distributing their content, including Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and the likes of Netflix Inc. and EBay Inc. They had feared that internet service providers could slow their content to favor business partners.“The court got it right,” Jonathan Spalter, president of the USTelecom trade group with members including AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc., said in an emailed statement. “The FCC’s 2017 order restored the smarter, more nimble, pro-consumer and bipartisan policy framework.”NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, was “gratified” with the ruling, Michael Powell, president of the trade group, said in an emailed statement. Members of the group include Comcast, one of the largest U.S. broadband providers.Video GamesThe Internet Association will “continue to fight for nationwide, strong, enforceable net neutrality protections,” Michael Beckerman, president of the trade group with members including Google, Facebook, Twitter Inc., and Uber Technologies Inc., said in an emailed statement.“This ruling fails to ensure a fair and open internet for video game players and all internet users,” Stanley Pierre-Louis, president of the Entertainment Software Association, said in an email. Pierre-Louis pointed out that the ruling “opens the door to state action.”The FCC and broadband providers may defeat state broadband regulation later, in this case or in related lawsuits, Matthew Schettenhelm, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said in a note.Judges in Tuesday’s decision indicated they were loath to set the communications industry, and the nation, on a different regulatory course yet again. The rules took effect last year.“We decline to yet again flick the on-off switch” of heavier regulation, the court said in its opinion.Critics said the new regulatory regime adopted under Pai invited predatory behavior, while broadband providers said competition would prevent abuses. Opponents of the new rules were the web software developer Mozilla Corp., the streaming video service Vimeo and a coalition of governments including New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia and Santa Clara County, California.At issue was whether Pai correctly decided to treat broadband internet as a lightly-regulated information service, subject only to Federal Trade Commission consumer protection-style oversight. Two years earlier, the agency’s prior leadership declared broadband was a form of telecommunications.The panel was comprised of Obama appointees Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, and Senior Judge Stephen Williams, a Ronald Reagan-nominee and the lone judge who voted to strike down “net neutrality” as part of a prior panel in 2016.The judges issued one unified opinion, unsigned by any one of them, accompanied by three separate ones, where they elaborated on their concerns and the reasons for their conclusions.Millett in a concurring opinion said she sided with the FCC with “substantial reservation” and was bound by a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that gave the agency discretion to classify cable modem connections.“I am deeply concerned that the result is unhinged from the realities of modern broadband service,” Millett wrote. She and Wilkins said either the Supreme Court or Congress need to take up the issue.Williams dissented on the part of the ruling that allows states to set policy. He said that the internet can’t be divided into state markets, and that state actions “would frustrate an agency’s authorized policy.”The judges told the FCC to reconsider portions of its decision about implications of its rule for public safety, the regulation of attachments to telephone poles, and concerns about telecommunications subsidy programs.Both sides said they want Congress to step in. So far lawmakers have been unable to agree, and there are few indications legislation might succeed soon.(Updates with reaction beginning in 10th paragraph.)\--With assistance from Susan Decker.To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Harris in federal court in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net;Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, ;David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth WassermanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
eBay to Regain E-Commerce Growth With Devin's Resignation?
eBay (EBAY) announces that CEO Devin Wenig has resigned and Scott Schenkel has been appointed as the interim CEO.
- Bloomberg
EBay CEO Devin Wenig Steps Down in Ongoing Operating Review
(Bloomberg) -- EBay Inc. Chief Executive Officer Devin Wenig is stepping down amid pressure from activist investors to break the company apart.Scott Schenkel, EBay’s chief financial officer, was appointed as interim CEO, the company announced Wednesday. EBay said it will seek a permanent CEO and consider internal and external candidates. Shares fell less than 1% to $39.28 at 3:27 p.m. in New York.Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp., which owns a 4% stake in EBay, demanded in January that the company make “urgently needed” changes, including selling assets, such as ticket-selling site StubHub and the Classifieds Group, and buying back shares. In March, EBay reached an agreement with Elliott and another activist investor, Starboard Value, to appoint two new directors and undertake a strategic review of its portfolio assets. EBay said Wednesday it would provide an update this fall on the ongoing review, which is being conducted with the assistance of Goldman Sachs & Co.Wenig was fired after he failed to grow EBay’s marketplace platform and clashed with the board about not wanting to sell the classifieds business, according to people familiar with the matter.“In the past few weeks it became clear that I was not on the same page as my new board,“ Wenig said in a tweet. “Whenever that happens, it’s best for everyone to turn that page over.”Wenig, 52, took over EBay following its split with PayPal in 2015 and made bold promises of returning the marketplace to prominence. To compete against Amazon.com Inc., Wenig tried to freshen EBay’s image with younger shoppers, made the site easier to navigate and harnessed artificial intelligence to give EBay merchants real-time insights about what shoppers want and how much they’re willing to pay. But the results have been slow to appear and EBay has continued to watch Amazon grow at a much faster pace and gobble up more market share and customers.EBay’s financial reports have also shown paltry growth this year, with revenue increases of only 2% in the first two quarters and analysts expect no increase in the third quarter and a decline of 1% in the fourth, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Gross merchandise volume -- the value of all goods sold on EBay properties -- fell 4.4% to $22.6 billion in the second quarter from a year earlier.EBay reaffirmed Wednesday its full-year guidance for 2019 of revenue growth of 2% to 3%, adjusted earnings per share of $2.70 to $2.75 and net EPS of $1.97 to $2.07 per share.Wenig had tried to differentiate EBay from Amazon by emphasizing that EBay didn’t compete with sellers by selling it’s own similar products and he downplayed the importance of fast shipping, saying EBay wasn’t the place for shoppers who want paper towels in an hour. Instead, Wenig highlighted EBay’s inventory of unique items.(Updates with information about Wenig’s firing in fourth paragraph. An earlier version of this story was corrected to reflect a company error in the financial guidance.)\--With assistance from Scott Deveau.To contact the reporters on this story: Molly Schuetz in New York at mschuetz9@bloomberg.net;Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Robin AjelloFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
EBay CEO steps down, cites differences with board
Earlier this year, eBay made changes to its board and said it is exploring options for its ticketing unit, StubHub, and eBay Classifieds businesses, after coming under pressure from hedge funds Elliott Management Corp and Starboard Value. EBay, which faces intense competition from Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc , has focused on its promoted listings program and payments business under Wenig's leadership, as well as worked to make its platform simpler to use.
- Investing.com
EBay Falls Midday After CEO Steps Down
Investing.com - Auction and retail site eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) slipped on Wednesday after CEO Devin Wenig announced he was stepping down from the company due to differences with its revamped board of directors.
- Yahoo Finance
Juul, eBay CEOs just got axed — clearly there is a big leadership crisis in America
Some big-name companies are kicking out their CEOs.
- Zacks
Amazon (AMZN) Acquires INLT, Enhances Online Retail Business
Amazon (AMZN) acquires INLT to strengthen relationship with merchants. Further, the buyout helps it to foray into cloud solutions for global trade management space.
- Bloomberg
EBay’s Next CEO Inherits a Confounding Puzzle
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- EBay Inc. has been a resilient internet pioneer and also a confounding one. Now a new leader will have to solve the riddle.The company announced on Wednesday that Devin Wenig, the chief executive officer since 2015, had stepped down. The company’s chief financial officer, a longtime EBay employee, was named interim CEO while the company hunts for a permanent successor. Ebay shares dipped nearly 2% on the news.EBay is an oddball of the internet economy. It’s both a success with more than $90 billion in merchandise and event tickets sold each year, and it has vast unfilled potential. In the U.S., EBay’s market share of online shopping is second only to Amazon.com Inc., although it is a distant No. 2. Its classified websites are popular in several countries, and the company generates most of its revenue outside its home country. But while online retailing is a naturally growing sector as people shop more from their sofas and smartphones, EBay has stopped growing. The dollar value of transactions on its main shopping businesses started to shrink this year.EBay’s central problem won’t be easy to solve by a new CEO. People who shop on EBay tend to love it, but a swath of online shoppers never think about EBay at all. This conundrum has vexed several administrations of EBay leaders. And across the industry, changing consumer habits are turning retail shopping upside down, and EBay hasn’t successfully capitalized on emerging niches or trends. Online shopping insurgents such as Etsy Inc. in handmade goods, Goat in sneakers and streetwear and the RealReal Inc. in consignment, have encroached on what should be EBay’s natural turf.That was a big reason Elliott Management Corp., the activist investor, went public with its criticisms about the company early this year, landed seats on the board and urged a review of the company’s structure and operations. On Wednesday, EBay said those reviews are continuing.EBay has made deliberate and pragmatic choices not to chase hot e-commerce trends or low-margin areas such as groceries and instead focus on its strengths: its loyal customers, global reach and a business model with better economics and less risk than many online retailers. The approach is sensible, but EBay has been missing opportunities as online shopping reshapes the $20 trillion in annual global retail spending. Investors had lost faith in the company’s approach.It’s not clear a new CEO will have fresh solutions to what EBay should be. It seems more likely now that EBay will ditch some of its assets, including its StubHub event ticket business and its network of classifieds websites. The fees for merchants that sell on EBay are also low compared with those charged by Amazon and other competitors, and that may be an area where EBay can dial up revenue growth — although it risks turning off merchants the company needs to thrive.Wenig tweeted on Wednesday that it became clear he wasn’t “on the same page as my new board.” That would be the board including two people added at Elliott’s request. It will be interesting to see whether the investment firm will see EBay through only long enough for a potential transaction to jettison StubHub or other assets.EBay is a test of whether Elliott can help steer a tricky operational challenge, not just nag for a stock-boosting rearrangement of deck chairs. No matter what, EBay’s decision to change CEOs shows that the company’s sensible approach to e-commerce isn’t working, and it’s time to take greater risks to capitalize on changing shopping habits. To contact the author of this story: Shira Ovide at sovide@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Niemi at dniemi1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Shira Ovide is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology. She previously was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
