eBay Inc. (eBay) Company Profile
Corporate Headquarters
San Jose, California, United States
Background and Company History of eBay Inc.
eBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which businesses and people buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. Founded in 1995 by French-born Iranian entrepreneur and economist, Pierre Omidyar, he started the company by charging a small fee for the services on AuctionWeb to cover costs. eBay has gone a long way since his entrepreneurial spirit decided to sell as his broken laser pointer instead of throwing it away. Omidyar’s story is one of the greatest success stories of the dot com bubble.
In recent years, eBay has become a multi-billion dollar business with operations localized in 30 countries. It expanded from its original “set-time” auction format to include “Buy it Now” standard shopping. Other forms of shopping include via Half-com, online classified advertisements via Kijiji or eBay Classifieds and online event ticket trading via StubHub. Online money transfer is handled via PayPal.
eBay Facts
The founder and chairman of eBay, Pierre Omidyar (born June 21, 1967), is a French-born Iranian entrepreneur, philanthropist, technocrat and economist. In 1995, Labor Day weekend, 28 years old computer programmer Pierre Omidyar wrote the code for what he called an “experiment”: “What would happen if everyone had equal access to a single global marketplace?” He tested his new auction website by posting a broken laser pointer, something he was ready to let go. To his surprise, a collector bought it for $14.83. This sale began a radical transformation in commerce, in particular, e-commerce.
In a sense, eBay also became the world’s first example of online social networking, by remarkably creating an efficient market in connecting individuals around the world. Omidyar is guided by his strong belief that people are basically good, enough to trust doing business with strangers online.
eBay has grown since, with more than 90 million users worldwide, and trading more than US $1,900 worth of goods per second. By 2002, it acquired PayPal, which even brought new efficiencies to online trading.
By 2005, eBay has more than 95 million registered users selling over 45,000 categories of goods, and the company turning over more than US $4 billion. In acquiring other innovative businesses such as Shopping.com and StubHub, eBay positioned the company as a world leader in e-commerce.
eBay Inc had worldwide revenue sales of more than US $8 billion in 2009.
eBay Number of Employees (worldwide):
More than 15,500, with operations localized in 30 countries.
eBay Leaders
Founder and Chairman, eBay Inc.
Pierre Omidyar, Founder and Chairman, eBay Inc.
Executive Profiles
John Donahoe, President and CEO, eBay Inc.
Beth Axelrod, SVP, Human Resources, eBay Inc.
Mark Carges, Chief Technology Officer and SVP, Global Products, Marketplaces
Michael Jacobson, SVP, Legal Affairs, General Counsel and Secretary, eBay Inc.
Alan Marks, SVP, Corporate Communications, eBay Inc.
Lorrie Norrington, President, eBay Marketplaces
Bob Swan, SVP, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, eBay Inc.
Scott Thompson, President, PayPal
Products of eBay, Inc.
- Electronic commerce (eCommerce)
- Gumtree
- Online auction hosting
- PayPal
- Shopping mall
- Skype
- eBay Classifieds (formerly Kijiji)
eBay has had numerous awards, including The Most Trusted Company for Privacy in 2009.
Building on Omidyar’s idea that “people are basically good,” the world marketplace forever transformed e-commerce. Without doubt, his entrepreneurial legacy is the outcome of his belief in the free market and the transformation of a more efficient way of connecting people anywhere in the world.
Tel Asiado is a writer, author, and business consultant, previously, IT manager & consultant. Her articles reflect her interests, from small business, biographies & histories, to classical music especially Mozart, art & literature, biographies, and Christian writings. Tel has produced non-fictions, e-books and anthologies. Her education is MBA in Computer Management, BSc Chemistry, Diploma in Small Business & Internet Mktg, and Cert IV Training and Assessment (TAA). Her small office/home site is homebizideasnow.com, and numerous information of Mozart and classical music, mozartandclassicalmusic.com.
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