July 16 (Bloomberg) -- EBay Inc., the world's largest Internet auctioneer, fell 7.7 percent in late U.S. trading after reporting slowing growth in spending at its retail sites.
Gross merchandise volume, the value of all goods that users sold on EBay's sites, rose 8 percent, the smallest increase in at least five quarters, EBay said today in a statement.
Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe, who took over from Meg Whitman March 31, lowered the upfront price and raised fees for completed transactions to boost auction listings, while promoting sales at fixed amounts to win customers from Amazon.com Inc. Donahoe said today that the unit's president, Rajiv Dutta, will retire and be succeeded by Lorrie Norrington.
``EBay is making changes now it really should have made three or four years ago,'' Timothy Boyd, an analyst with American Technology Research in Greenwich, Connecticut, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. ``It's playing catch-up, it's trying to become more like Amazon.'' Some analysts had estimated the value of merchandise transactions to climb 13 to 14 percent, he said.
Second-quarter net income climbed to $460.3 million, or 35 cents a share, from $375.8 million, or 27 cents, a year earlier, San Jose, California-based EBay said. Profit excluding some items was 43 cents, beating analysts' estimates by 2 cents. Revenue in the three months ended June 30 rose 20 percent to $2.2 billion from $1.83 billion.
Full-year profit excluding items may rise to $1.72 to $1.77 a share, higher than it previously forecast, EBay said today in a statement. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated $1.74.
Shares Fall
EBay fell $2.17 to $25.93 at 5:26 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading after the results were released. Earlier, the shares rose 4.5 percent, giving it a 15 percent decline for the year. Amazon.com has dropped 22 percent.
Nineteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated second- quarter profit, excluding some items, of 41 cents a share. Seventeen predicted sales of $2.16 bill1ion.
Third-quarter profit, excluding some costs, may be 39 cents to 41 cents a share, on sales of as much as $2.15 billion, EBay said. Analysts estimated earnings of 41 cents on revenue of $2.17 billion.
Record commodity and gasoline prices are leaving consumers with less money to spend on discretionary purchases. Years of rapid growth in overall electronic commerce is decelerating, and EBay isn't immune, Chief Financial Officer Robert Swan said in an April 16 interview.
Changes EBay has made will probably allow it to grow its marketplace faster than traditional retailers, but at a slower rate than some other electronic-commerce companies, said Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Manassas, Virginia. He recommends investors buy EBay shares.
Online Retail
``Online retail continues to hold up strongly despite investor concerns about the U.S. macro environment and consumer confidence,'' Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said yesterday in a note. The New York-based analyst who advises buying EBay stock.
EBay's marketplaces revenue jumped 13 percent to $1.46 billion in the second quarter. Overseas sales make up 56 percent of EBay's revenue. New marketplace listings rose 19 percent to 666.9 million from a year earlier, the third consecutive quarterly increase, EBay said.
PayPal revenue climbed 33 percent to $602 million as the payment unit signed online payment agreements with Delta Air Lines Inc. and Blockbuster Inc.
Revenue from Skype, its Internet-telephone unit, climbed 51 percent to $136 million in the quarter, and added almost 29 million users. Skype named Josh Silverman as its chief executive officer in February.
Donahoe's Priorities
Donahoe, 48, joined EBay in 2005 from Bain & Co.. He's said his three priorities for the company are improving its fixed- price online retail business, growing PayPal and bolstering customer safety and trust.
EBay announced June 19 it's expanding insurance for buyers and sellers using PayPal across the 190 countries it operates, and offering discounts to some big sellers. In January, EBay bought Israeli software company Fraud Sciences Ltd. for $169 million to improve PayPal security.
A New York court this week said EBay isn't responsible for the sale of fake Tiffany & Co. jewelry on its Web site. The U.S. win contrasts with a French court ruling last month that ordered EBay pay $63.6 million to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, over claims the site didn't do enough to block the sale of counterfeits.
To contact the reporter on this story: Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@bloomberg.net
