eBay Releases Financial Results for its First Quarter of 2024, Eliciting Mixed Market Reactions

While the company achieved earnings per share of $1.25, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.20, the stock fell by 3.88 percent to $49.08 in pre-market trading. In the same period last year, eBay had recorded earnings of $1.11 per share.

The revenue of the online marketplace rose to 2.556 billion US dollars, thus exceeding the forecasts of analysts who had expected revenue of 2.53 billion US dollars, compared to 2.51 billion US dollars in the same quarter of the previous year.

For the current quarter, however, eBay forecasts revenue between $2.49 and $2.54 billion, which is below market expectations of $2.56 billion. This forecast has led to disappointment among investors who had hoped for stronger performance in a highly competitive market environment. eBay is in direct competition with other major online platforms such as Amazon and the rising Chinese merchants Temu and Shein.

The number of active buyers on the platform remained steady at 132 million for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company had already announced in January a reduction of about 1,000 jobs, which affects nine percent of the full-time workforce. eBay CEO Jamie Iannone justified the layoffs with costs that have risen faster than business growth. These measures are intended to help eBay optimize its cost structure and better respond to the challenges in an increasingly competitive environment.