eBay Inc. is an American multinational e-commerce corporation and is based in San Jose, California. It allows consumer to consumer and business to consumer sales through its website. In 1995 eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar, which he started as a hobby; eBay became a multibillion-dollar business with operations in about 30 countries. In 2011, the eBay website managed an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses bought and sold a wide variety of goods and services worldwide.
Inception
On 3 September 1995, in California, AuctionWeb was founded by Pierre Omidyar, a French-born Iranian-American computer programmer, and this site was part of a larger personal site. Omidyar started eBay as a hobby. The first item sold on AuctionWeb was a broken laser pointer for $14.83.
One day Omidyar’s Internet service provider informed him he would need to upgrade to a business account due to the high volume of traffic to his website. The resulting price increased from $30 per month to $250 per month, and then he prompted his users to pay who used eBay.
In September 1997, AuctionWeb officially changed theirs to eBay. The start-up eBay site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, an Omidyar consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name as echobay.com, but he found that it was already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, which is a gold mining company, so then he shortened the domain name to his second choice, eBay.com.
eBay expanded its product categories beyond collectibles into almost any sellable item from which the business grew quickly. eBay had 12 million registered users and an inventory containing more than 4.5 million items on sale on any given day in 2000. eBay purchased iBazar in February 2002, a European auction website founded in 1998, and also bought PayPal on October 3, 2002.
Evolution
In 1996, Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first new president. eBay completed its first third-party licensing deal with Electronic Travel Auction in 1996, which was a company based in SmartMarket Technology that sells plane tickets and other travel products. eBay’s growth in January 1997 was phenomenal as the site hosted 2,000,000 auctions compared with 250,000 during 1996.
The company received $6.7 million in funding from Benchmark Capital, a venture capital firm, and provided 6.7 million in funding to eBay. In March 1998, Meg Whitman was hired as eBay President and CEO by its board, and at that time, eBay had 30 employees, half a million users and revenues of $4.7 million in the United States.
In 2001, eBay became the largest userbase of any e-commerce website. Both Pierre Omidyar and Jeffrey Skoll became instant billionaires when eBay went public. eBay’s target share price of $18 was ignored, but on the same day, the price went to $53.50.
The company grew its product category list beyond collectibles into almost any sellable item, and the business grew quickly. eBay had a cyber inventory of more than 4.5 million items on sale on any given day and 12 million registered users in 2000; in February 2002, the company purchased a European auction website founded in 1998, bazar, and then bought PayPal on October 3, 2002.
Awards & Achievements
The merchandise sold on AuctionWeb reached $7.2 million. eBay took the world by storm when it sold $500 million worth of stuffed animals by Beanie Babies, representing more than 6% of their total volume. eBay’s share trade opened for $18 and reached $53.50 in just one day. eBay is the first foundation to be endowed with pre-IPO stock. eBay has also given over $30 million to nonprofit organizations worldwide.
Net Worth of eBay in 2024
Pierre Omidyar founder owns 5% of eBay and 6% of Paypal’s shares, eBay’s growth has made many of its largest shareholders very rich. However, it is important to know that 90% of the company shares are held by mutual funds and other institutional shareholders. With a current share price pegged around $40, eBay’s net worth is estimated at $45 billion as of January 2024.
eBay is one of the most popular companies present in the world and is also one of the best online retail sites in the world. eBay company has invested in many big companies such as Craiglist, Paypal, Skype and etc. In 1997 eBay did 2 million auctions in comparison to 250,000 in 1996. Its growth was exponential. In just five years, eBay got 12 million registered users on its site. eBay is considered a great site for action and online retailing and will continue its good work.