2019 Q4 and year End eBay Results

From eBay’s Press Release.

Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights

Revenue was $2.8 billion, down 2% on an as-reported basis and remaining flat on a foreign exchange (FX) neutral basis. Gross merchandise volume (GMV) was $23.3 billion, down 5% on an as-reported basis and down 4% on a FX-Neutral basis.
Active buyers grew by 2% across eBay’s platforms, for a total of 183 million global active buyers.
Marketplace platforms delivered $2.2 billion of revenue, down 3% on an as-reported basis and down 1% on a FX-Neutral basis, and $22.0 billion of GMV, down 5% on an as-reported basis and down 4% on a FX-Neutral basis.
StubHub platforms drove revenue of $321 million, up 2% on both an as-reported and a FX-Neutral basis, and GMV of $1.3 billion, down 5% on both an as-reported and a FX-Neutral basis.
Classifieds platforms delivered revenue of $269 million, up 3% on an as-reported basis and up 6% on a FX-Neutral basis.
GAAP net income from continuing operations was $558 million, or $0.69 per diluted share.
Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations was $661 million, or $0.81 per diluted share.
Generated $811 million of operating cash flow and $672 million of free cash flow from continuing operations.
Full Year Financial Highlights

Revenue was $10.8 billion, up 1% on an as-reported basis and up 2% on a FX-Neutral basis. GMV was $90.2 billion, down 5% on an as-reported basis and down 2% on a FX-Neutral basis.
GAAP and Non-GAAP operating margin was 21.5% and 28.2%, respectively, delivering on margin accretion commitments.
Repurchased approximately $5.0 billion of its common stock and paid $473 million in cash dividends.

So, Q4 was by no means a great 4th Quarter for ebay, and in fact, 2019 wasn’t a great year. I listened to the earnings call, and will read through the transcript when it becomes available. Unfortunately, most of the questions didn’t really address issues of much interest to us as sellers. One little thing I thought was interesting….because of the possibility that ebay might expand this to other categories or price points…was ebay’s statement about the change they made recently to the fee structure for sneakers (Sneakers priced at $100 or more—no listing fees, no FVFs) ebay indicated that this had indeed increased the number of listings for those sneakers, and the sales, and I think they said it brought in some new sellers. AND…eBay still collected some fees, because apparently a fair number of sellers chose to use Promoted Listings.

So, I have to wonder…..could ebay expand this to at least some other categories?

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4319684-ebay-inc-ebay-ceo-scott-schenkel-on-q4-2019-results-earnings-call-transcript?dr=1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha

“When we talk about vintage, collectibles, interesting items, et cetera, people think about us, and we just have to be more relevant not only in how we show up on our search results but how that inventory is searchable and findable on the site in a way that doesn’t undermine new buyers coming into the ecosystem, as we talked about a lot last year and prior, and then most importantly, over time, also indexing on brands.

So more to come on that as we move forward. But for right now, I think that’s — I think Pete and the team have done an excellent job over the course of the planning horizon and setting us up for a ’20 plan that is very clearly focused on vertical categories, along with Jordan and the other regional country leaders, to really focus on where we think we can win.”

OK, not sure what all that translates to, but at least they mentioned vintage and stuff.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4319781-ebay-projecting-no-growth-this-year?dr=1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha

A summary that refers to ebay’s “irrelevance” in ecommerce. I don’t think this bodes well for ebay’s continued success, much less a big turn around. Nothing that was said yesterday suggests to me that ebay has any bold new plans to jump start the company.

We still have sales on ebay, and I have no plans to jump ship. But there’s just nothing very encouraging in any of this.