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Posted
Apr 22 2008, 04:43 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Once a year, the firm Millard Brown puts out its BrandZ 100 Most Valuable Brands. The data used for the list come from consumer research and financial data on the companies. The research house gives its methodology here.
For those who think Google is the top brand, give yourself a pat on the back. It has a brand valuation of $86 billion, up 30%. For those research mavens in the crowd, the figure makes absolutely no sense. Google has a market cap of $168 billion. Most of that would go away -- no matter how good the technology is -- if it changed it name to Dawdle.
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Posted
Apr 21 2008, 12:10 PM
by
Kim Peterson
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Looks like eBay is dusting off the "for sale" sign for Skype, and it's about time. The Internet calling division said today it's offering almost-unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada for $3 a month. (Calls to other countries will be $10 a month; click here for more info). I say almost because there's a 10,000 minute-per-month limit, which is more than five hours of calling a day.
Ebay has Skype under the microscope because it still hasn't figured out what to do with the company after buying it for $2.6 billion in 2005. Skype is a superstar on its own, with 309 million users and sales likely to hit $500 million this year. But meshing it with auctions? Hasn't worked. CEO John Donahoe said eBay will be testing Skype's "synergies" this year. But if the company hasn't found synergies in three years, why would it magically happen now?
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Posted
Apr 16 2008, 01:13 PM
by
Kim Peterson
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Ebay shares have been on a tear for weeks now, rising 25% since mid-March to $32.12. Today we found out why the market was so bullish about the online auctioneer: it had a slam-dunk first quarter in which profit rose 22% and revenue rose 24%. Those numbers handily beat expectations, but there may be a dark cloud in all the good news. Ebay has rolled out some big changes since the first of the year, including a new CEO that took over in March. The company overhauled its fee structure, charging users less to list items but taking a bigger commission on sales. Ebay also raised standards for sellers and updated its feedback system. The changes drew immediate criticism and fueled a week-long boycott, but the outcry seems to have died down lately. Ebay saw the number of new auction listings grow in the quarter. Active users on the site increased by 1% -- not a lot but the first increase in a year. The quarter's performance was good enough that eBay raised its full-year outlook, saying today it expects a 2008 profit of $1.70 to $1.75 a share.
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Posted
Feb 25 2008, 12:24 PM
by
Kim Peterson
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The weeklong boycott of the eBay auction site ends today. But did it accomplish anything? Fed up with recent fee hikes and other policy changes, some eBay sellers decided to boycott the site from Feb. 18 through today. Third-party tracking sites say auction listings have dropped about 13% since the strike started to 13 million items listed. Ebay shares dipped slightly over the past week, but have returned to where they started -- at just under $28. The share price closed up 30 cents to $28.01 today on news that Shopping.com CEO Josh Silverman will now run eBay's Skype online telephony unit.
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Posted
Jan 25 2008, 11:18 AM
by
Kim Peterson
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Outgoing eBay CEO Meg Whitman isn't retiring to life on the golf course. The L.A. Times reports today that Whitman may run for governor of California.
"Whitman has talked with top Republicans about the possibility of a run for California governor in 2010, according to three operatives who have had discussions with her. Whitman is said to be asking detailed questions about the logistics of a run and the effect she could have as governor, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the conversations."
Whitman said this week that she'll retire from eBay by March 31, after a 10-year run as chief executive. Aside from being a fundraiser for Mitt Romney, Whitman has very little experience in politics. Still, that hasn't stopped others from getting elected to the post.
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Posted
Jan 22 2008, 12:22 PM
by
Kim Peterson
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EBay chief executive Meg Whitman will retire from the post soon, the WSJ reported today. And that means eBay is at the most critical point in its history. The retirement news isn't a surprise; we discussed the idea of her resignation earlier this month. Whitman, 51, has been giving her top executives more responsibilities recently and could be grooming one to replace her. EBay investors weren't too thrilled today. The company's shares fell more than 4 percent to close at $27.13. I thought the market would react more favorably, considering that eBay's share price has dropped by almost a third since October. Whitman's legacy has some black marks, such as the overpriced Skype acquisition and the increasing anger among a user base irritated by high fees. I don't think she's done enough to improve the user experience, and as a result companies like Amazon have become a serious competitive threat. But what outshines those flaws is this: Whitman has kept the company growing and profitable, which is exactly what a CEO should do.
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Posted
Jan 03 2008, 03:21 AM
by
Kim Peterson
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There's been some talk lately about whether eBay CEO Meg Whitman should resign. EBay would be invigorated if she did. Recently, she's been criticized for signing on as the financial co-chair of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Whitman met Romney years ago when she consulted for his private equity firm. At BloggingStocks, Gary Sattler thinks that Whitman might request a paid leave of absence from eBay to work on the Romney campaign. I really doubt that. It's ludicrous to think that a CEO of a major public company would do such a thing. If Whitman indeed asks for time off to campaign, eBay shareholders have every right to be angry. Putting politics aside, is it time for Whitman to step down? If you're an eBay shareholder, you might think so. The stock was abysmal in 2006 and continued to disappointment in 2007, staying mostly in the $30-$35 range when companies like Amazon saw shares go through the roof. (Ebay closed yesterday at $32.49.)
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Posted
Dec 13 2007, 10:14 AM
by
Kim Peterson
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 It's about time eBay cleared the trash from its site.
The online auctioneer plans to improve the "user experience" next year. At the top of the list: getting rid of sellers with "unethical or questionable business practices," including the ones that charge huge shipping fees.
EBay should have been more aggressive in this area long ago. I've heard lots of stories about buyers who pay big shipping fees, only to see on the delivered package that the actual postage was less than $10. Buyers have to be really savvy to figure out the minefield of shipping ripoffs on the site, and that's not a good user experience.
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Posted
Nov 26 2007, 07:08 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Is any work getting done today? It's Cyber Monday, a marketing gimmick that turned into a real trend. Retailers predict that 72 million people will shop online today, up from 61 million last year.
GPS systems are going to be a hot gift, and Garmin is seeing the investor love today. It's shares are up 8.5% to $99.63
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Posted
Oct 10 2007, 07:13 AM
by
Kim Peterson
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Another day, another doomed social networking service launches. Today brings us the "Neighborhoods" community at eBay, which is struggling as the number of auctions on the site decline.
The service is truly cringeworthy. In the Coffee Lovers forum, eBay employees have obviously tried to seed some discussions by posting things like, "Isn't morning a great time for coffee?" Yeah, that's going to stimulate some fascinating comments.
The idea is to stem the losses at eBay by keeping people on the site. Ebay's listings dropped 6% in the second quarter from the first and 2% from the year-ago period. Listings by active "power sellers" were also down an astonishing 25% from the year-ago period
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