eBay Profits Rise as Skype, PayPal Grow
October 21, 2009 by Mark Ellis
Filed under Business
Skype has proved to be an important part of eBay’s third quarter results, even as the online retailer and auction host continues to try to sell Skype. The online communication hub has posted a revenue growth of 29 percent, a growth that has helped eBay to post a revenue growth of 6 percent to $2.24 billion.
Analysts did not expect eBay’s revenue to grow so much, instead predicting an average of $2.14 billon for the company. According to eBay, this year-over-year growth was mostly driven by continued growth in its PayPal and Skype divisions, as well as by the expansion of its classifieds business and the strength of eBay’s fixed-price format.
Despite the solid news, eBay’s shares fell 5 percent in after-hours trading, a drop that came after the company’s announcement that its profits fell 29 perecnt for the quarter to $350 million from last year to this year. Analysts expected that eBay would earn 37 cents per share in profits this quarter, a figure that dwarfed eBay’s actual earnings of 27 cents per share.
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