The $1.43 billion charge eBay disclosed earlier this month had its predicted effect on their third quarter bottom line. Take that away, and eBay fared well.
Skype Stings, But eBay Profits
With Skype and other charges, eBay suffered a $936 million net loss. But investors bid eBay up to $40.60 before the announcement came after the market closed, likely expecting a silver lining in the grey cloud that was the Skype writeoff.
They found it in the non-GAAP figures eBay disclosed during their conference call. That net income figure hit $564 million, a 53 percent rise over the same quarter last year.
“During the quarter we made significant progress against our business unit strategies which resulted in record net revenues of $1.89 billion, a 30% year-over-year increase,” said eBay President and CEO, Meg Whitman. “eBay International, PayPal Merchant Services, StubHub, classifieds and our advertising businesses all performed above our expectations.”
Though eBay had fewer listings when comparing the same quarters year over year, net revenues from eBay’s Marketplaces rose 26 percent, to $1.32 billion in the quarter. PayPal had net revenue of $470 million, while Skype brought in $98 million, a net revenue record for the VoIP unit.
Expect to see eBay pump more money into the core marketplace. The performance of their central business has already drawn significant investment over the quarter. They recently opened the eBay Neighborhoods service, a social networking feature for their users.
