Ebay Shares Soar Following Positive Earnings Report

Posted 04/24/2009 at 8:43am | by Paul Lilly

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What a difference a year makes, particularly for Ebay, who received considerable flack from its membership over a series of new policies introduced. At one point, users had become so incensed over the policy changes, which included increased listing fees and alterations to the feedback system, that sellers united for a week long boycott. By some estimates, auction listings dropped by 13 percent during the boycott.

But that's old news, and this week the auction site beat Wall Street expectations on earnings and revenue, which analysts attribute to cost cuts and continued growth in both its Skype and Paypal ventures. Year-to-year Paypal revenue spiked 11 percent, with Skype doing even better and reporting a 21 percent increase. News of the better than expected earnings sent shares of Ebay up over 8 percent today.

Not all the numbers were as  favorable, however, with Ebay posting a first-quarter net profit of $357 million, or 28 cents per share, down from $460 million, or 34 cents per share a year prior. Revenue was down 8 percent to $2.02 billion, but still above the $1.95 billion expected.

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