Jaipur Stock：EBay
In 1998, eBay went public, with shares listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol EBAY. Also in 1998, the eBay Foundation was formed.
eBay weathered the dot-com bust of the early 2000s in part because it relied on transaction fees rather than advertising revenue. The company also used the tumultuous time to grow, adding new product features and expanding internationally.
eBay kicked off a long acquisition spree with its purchase of the digital payments platform PayPal in 2002. The acquisition was logical because many eBay users were already using PayPal to complete transactions for the platform.
eBay in 2004 acquired a 25% minority stake in Craigslist—the mother of all garage sale platforms. The intent was to enable the two companies to share synergies in the form of expertise, resources, and creativity.
eBay also acquired the online rentals platform Rent.com in 2004. In 2005, the auctions platform purchased the online comparison shopping site Shopping.com as well as Gumtree, a global classified listings site. All of these acquisitions aimed to expand eBay’s online presence to new e-commerce markets.
eBay made another major purchase in 2005 when it acquired the Internet communications company Skype. In 2007 eBay also bought StubHub, positioning itself as the world’s largest online marketplace for entertainment event tickets.
Most of eBay’s acquisitions were later divested:Skype was sold in 2009 at a loss to private investors. (In 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype in a deal worth $8.5 billion.) Rent.com was sold in 2012 to the advertising and media company Primedia. PayPal was spun off into an independent company in 2015Jaipur Stock. Also in 2015, eBay divested its minority stake in CraigslistMumbai Investment. Gumtree was sold in 2020 to Adevinta, a Norway-based online secondhand marketplace. Also in 2020, the company sold StubHub to the multinational ticket exchange platform Viagogo.
eBay has continued to add new tech features to its platform throughout its history. Organized around the idea of “tech-led reimagination,” the company began supporting sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2021.
To increase its exposure to NFT sales, eBay in 2022 acquired KnownOrigin, a platform that enables buying and selling of NFT-based digital collectibles. Also in 2022, eBay announced the launch of a series of eco-conscious NFTs through a partnership with the green NFT platform OneOf.
In 2023, eBay began integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its platforms, launching a “magical listings” tool that enables sellers to upload a product photo to the eBay app and use AI to add the product’s details.
eBay has a long history that’s not without controversyChennai Investment. The platform has faced issues ranging from counterfeit goods to concerns over user privacy and fraud:Counterfeit goods distribution. Several European manufacturers have sued eBay, charging that it was complicit in the distribution of counterfeit goods because it took commissions on sales without imposing adequate controls on the transactions. Some luxury fashion houses in France sued eBay for damages, with the first judgment of €20,000 being levied against the company in June 2008.Massive data breach. eBay in 2014 reported that hackers raided its infrastructure to access the records of approximately 145 million users. The data breach leaked users’ passwords, email addresses, birth dates, mailing addresses, and other personal information, raising serious concerns about eBay’s data handling practices.Fraudulent bidding. eBay has struggled to combat fraudulent practices like shill bidding—the practice of bidding on your own items to raise the auction priceJaipur Stock. The company has attempted to address fraudulent bidding by, in some cases, filing lawsuits against alleged offenders.
The eBay platform features many tools to support both buyers and sellers. The company also aims to positively impact communities through the eBay Foundation. Since its founding, eBay has channeled a portion of its profits back into local community causes around the world.
eBay in 2006 joined the United Nations Global Compact, the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative worldwide. According to eBay, the commitment demonstrates the company’s “belief in the power of business to drive positive social and environmental impact.”
eBay also organizes eBay Main Street, a global grassroots action network for public policy issues that affect e-commerce. A key focus of the Main Street initiative is to inform and protect small business sellers and consumers, according to the initiative’s website.
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