EBay CEO sees faster revenue growth ahead
Published May 5th, 2006
Chief Executive Meg Whitman on Thursday promised investors that faster growth and market share gains lay ahead, but left the company’s 2006 revenue view unchanged as international sales have slowed.
Speaking to investors and reporters at eBay’s annual analysts’ meeting in San Jose, California, Whitman reiterated a full-year revenue view of $5.7 billion to $5.9 billion, representing annual growth of about 31 percent.
The company had affirmed that forecast when it reported earnings on April 19, sending its shares nearly 9 percent lower the next day as Wall Street believed the view was too conservative.
“We plan to grow our revenues even faster and gain share in our addressable markets,” Whitman said in introductory comments.
Whitman said there was an opportunity for growth in the way the company’s three core businesses — its eBay auction marketplace, PayPal online payments systems and Skype Web telephone service — reinforce each other.
“I think it is redoubling our leadership position,” Whitman said of how the three businesses drive customer traffic to one another. “Looking to the future, I believe that each of our brands can gain share.”
Last week, Skype said it had signed up 100 million users, nearly double the 54 million users the communications service had last September, when eBay acquired it.
Whitman said on Thursday that Skype users worldwide during the first quarter had made 6.9 billion minutes worth of free or low-cost calls over computers and phones. Continued…
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