Online marketplace eBay (EBAY -0.39%) was an early internet success story. Almost 30 years after going public, eBay generates more than $10 billion in revenue annually. Let's explore how eBay got its start, who owns the company, and how you can add this global business to your investment portfolio.
NASDAQ: EBAY
Key Data Points
Who is the owner of eBay?
eBay is a public company, owned by institutional, insider, and retail investors. Nearly 95% of eBay stock is owned by about 1,400 institutional investors. Company officers and directors collectively own less than 1% of the online marketplace.
eBay went public in 1998 on the Nasdaq exchange, with an expected share price of $18. Eager investors bid up the price to $53.50 on the first day of trading. If you had invested $10,000 in eBay in 1998, your position would be worth $700,911 today.
Pierre Omidyar founded eBay in 1995 under the name AuctionWeb. The first item he listed for sale was a broken laser printer he sold to Canadian Mark Fraser for $14.83. In the next year, AuctionWeb would facilitate $7.2 million in merchandise transactions.
Also in 1996, AuctionWeb brought on Jeff Skoll as president and opened an office in San Jose, California. The company officially changed its name to eBay in 1997. The leadership team expanded again in 1998 with the hiring of now-famous tech CEO Meg Whitman.
In the ensuing years, eBay would evolve through expansions, acquisitions, partnerships, divestitures, and spin-offs to become the company it is today. Significant milestones included:
- Acquisition of peer-to-peer trading site Up4Sale in 1998
- Expansion into Germany, Australia, and the U.K. in 1999
- Launch of the "Buy it Now" feature in 2000
- Acquisition of PayPal (PYPL +3.33%) in 2002
- Acquisition of Rent.com in 2004
- Acquisition of Skype in 2005
- Acquisition of StubHub in 2007
- Acquisition of BillMeLater in 2008
- Sale of 70% of Skype ownership in 2009
- Acquisition of Milo.com in 2010
- Sale of Rent.com in 2012
- Partnership with Sotheby's to sell fine art in 2014
Shareholder
Who is on the board of directors for eBay?
eBay's board of directors has 11 members:
Board of Directors
Name | Role | Inception date |
|---|---|---|
Jamie Iannone | President and CEO of eBay | 2020 |
Perry Traquina | Former CEO of Wellington Management Company LLP | 2015 |
Paul Pressler | Director for eBay and chair for corporate governance and nominating committee | 2015 |
Logan Green | Co-founder of Lyft | 2016 |
Adriane Brown | Managing Partner of Flying Fish Partners | 2017 |
E. Carol Hayles | Former CFO of CIT Group | 2020 |
Mohak Shroff | Senior VP of Engineering at Linkedin | 2020 |
Aparna Chennapragada | Corporative VP of Generative AI at Microsoft | 2022 |
Shripriya Mahesh | Co-founder of Spero Ventures | 2023 |
Zane Rowe | Former CFO of Workday | 2024 |
Bill Nash | Former CEO of CarMax | 2024 |
Related investing topics
Time available to manage portfolio: A portfolio of stocks can be more time-consuming to manage than a portfolio of funds. Individual stocks require closer oversight due to the volatility risk. You may also need to rebalance individual stocks more often because they grow at different rates. Higher growth in one position can leave you with excessive exposure to that stock, which may not fit your investing plan.
A brokerage account allows you to purchase eBay shares or a fund with eBay exposure. Many individual retirement accounts (IRAs) also allow for stock and fund purchases.
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