Skype, PayPal earnings drive better-than-expected Q2 for eBay


23 Jul 2009

E-commerce giant eBay surprised Wall Street yesterday by posting better-than-expected results for the second quarter, despite a slide in profits of 29pc.

Second-quarter net profit was US$327.3m or 25 cents a share, down 29pc on net profit of US$327.3m or 35 cents a share posted in the same quarter in 2008.

Revenue in the second quarter was down US$97.7m on a yearly basis to US$2.1bn. However, this 4pc fall was well above the 9pc drop in revenues expected by Wall Street.

Ebay owns online payment player PayPal and online telephony company Skype, and growth from these two businesses helped the company offset the effects of a stronger dollar and a fall-off in its Marketplaces business, which consists of eBay, Shopping.com, StubHub, Kijiji and other e-commerce sites.

Skype contributed US$170m in revenue for the quarter, representing 25pc year-over-year growth.  It also added 37.3 million registered users during the quarter and ended the period with more than 480.5 million registered users, eBay said.

Ebay’s Payments business, which includes PayPal, saw an 11pc year-on-year increase in revenue for the quarter.

“We drove solid second-quarter results, with strong momentum and market share gains at PayPal and continued stabilisation in our core eBay business,” said eBay president and CEO, John Donahoe (pictured).

“We are managing our business with focus and discipline, delivering on our commitments while investing in our growth priorities. I’m pleased with our pace, our progress and our performance.”

Looking ahead to the third quarter, eBay said it expects net revenues in the range of US$2.05bn to $2.15bn, which is in line with analysts’ expectations.

Pictured: eBay president and CEO, John Donahoe

Article courtesy of businessandleadership.com