kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| WTF
Am I really the only one that thinks that eBay got screwed?
Here is a "company" that provides something for free....so millions of freeloaders sign up. In an effort to appear like a legitimate business with a sustainable business model, therefore an attractive M&A candidate, it tries offering products that cost money and generate revenue...and the response from consumers is negligible.
eBay, having realized that it doesn't have much of a sustainable business model itself, and its CEOs quest to prove that a woman can run a "cool" tech company, gets sold the Brooklyn bridge for $2.5 billion!!!
$2.5 BILLION. It's gonna take a crapload of auctions to get that money back.
And the analyst that thinks that skype can prove its worth by offering "click to call" to business....that market is pretty saturated as it is...and it's been offered for ages!
If you own eBay stock, dump it now, because that company has already seen its best days! |
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DMS1
join:2005-04-06
Carrollton, TX
| said by kapil  :Am I really the only one that thinks that eBay got screwed? No you are not, though I think they deserved what they got. I thought at the time that eBay's actions were reminiscent of the stupidity going on at the height of the dot-com boom.
It is interesting to compare the Skype purchase with the partial-IPO of Vonage. Many analysts believed the latter was over priced, and the subsequent stock slide reinforced this view. Yet, if you do the sums, the pricing valued Vonage at a small fraction that of Skype which is really strange when you consider that Vonage is the one with a business model that generates regular income.
I think we can thank our lucky stars that the stock markets are stable enough currently that eBay didn't manage to trigger another bust cycle among Internet-related stocks. |
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emmpeethree
Twizzling Flagella
Premium
join:2001-04-13
Richmond, BC
| reply to kapil
said by kapil :If you own eBay stock, dump it now, because that company has already seen its best days! the only reason they bought it was for the users.
my buddy got hired at ebay and during his orientation someone asked why they bought skype since it seems to have nothing to do with anything ebay has business with.
appearently, the reason why they bought them was solely for the users. appearently only 5% of skype users use ebay and vice versa.
that means that 95% of skype users are not using ebay and are potential customers.
it's all about marketing.
fyi: ebay ain't stupid, on average they earn 10% of the final cost of all their auctions (between ebay and paypal fees)
pretty good if you ask me.
--
Name another North American suburb of over 165 000 people which STILL doesn't have a CO close enough for many to get DSL! (ITS NOW AVAIL AFTER 5 YEARS OF WAITING!) |
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mettmann
join:2002-07-25
Upland, CA
1 edit | reply to kapil
kapil -
your rant has nothing to do with the launch of the new pricing system..
quit throwing out numbers like you're an analyst or CFO |
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jrobino
| reply to kapil
> eBay, having realized that it doesn't have much of a sustainable business model itself
If you want to make a point and want people to take what you say seriously ... the above statement is not the way to do it.
It's like saying that McDonald's has no sustainable business model ... and McDonald's could only hope to be doing as well as e-bay.
-robino |
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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL | If you want to make a point, and want people to take you seriously, REGISTER! |
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jrobino
join:2006-12-14
Albany, NY
| >>If you want to make a point, and want people to take you seriously, REGISTER!
If you can't make sense then make sarcasm.
e-bay is one of the most successful companies of the last ten years by everyone's standards. But they don't have a sustainable business plan?
Maybe that was sarcasm too?
-robino |
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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| reply to mettmann
The only number I mentioned was the dollar amount eBay threw away.
Unless his last name is Miller, an analyst's odds of predicting the market are no better than mine.
The beauty of a free market is that the same information is available anyone who cares enough to look.
And the only difference between me and a CFO is that I'm not white and 6 feet tall and don't play golf with my Ivy league buddies when I should be working. |
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Sancus
join:2002-10-17 | reply to kapil
quote:
and its CEOs quest to prove that a woman can run a "cool" tech company
You're aware that the CEO of Mozilla is a woman, right? |
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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| Mozilla is a non-profit org. So the CEO Mitchell Baker is a CEO like my garage is a car dealership.
Besides, I didn't say there is anything wrong with a woman running a company...I was just pointing out the overwhelming urge female executives have to show the world that they are equals...and the crazy ways they go about doing so.
..it's kinda' like being the cool kid in school...either you got it or you don't...and the harder you try, the more you're not! |
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