Donahoe has his own ideas to take Whitman’s legacy to the next level
John’s has a more customer focussed agenda, which includes upgradation of the site, revision of fee structure (he wants to lower the fees paid by people to list items & raise commission that eBay would earn on successful sales), and increasing search exposure for sellers with best buyer-satisfaction ratings. John prophetically commented, “Sellers that describe items accurately, ship on time & ship at a fair price will enjoy preferential pricing & discounts... this will significantly improve the buyer’s experience overall.”
Even the much praised Whitman has had her share of gut hits, notable being her open gamble to acquire Internet telephone service Skype last year for $2.6 billion. Skype did not generate expected revenues; worse, as its value fell, eBay had to write down a killing $1.4 billion. In fact, despite eBay seeing profits rise radically from 2004 to 2006 ($7.84 to $11.26 billion), Morgan Stanley quoted to B&E that the Skype acquisition was one of the chief reasons for a tremendous fall in eBay’s 2007 profits of $3.48 billion. Even Skype’s user and operating metrics decelerated across the board for the fifth consecutive quarter on December 31, 2007. Still, as Whitman announced her exit, eBay’s share value dropped almost instantly, dropping 6.1% to $27.18 before closing on January 25, 2008 at a 52-week low of $26.83, though Whitman did say of the new CEO Donahoe, “I’m extremely confident in John’s skills and the abilities of his veteran management team.”
They say it’s tough to become number one, but tougher to stay there! While Whitman has already showcased her cutting edge competitive skills to bring eBay to numero uno position in e-commerce, one wonders how much ‘tougher’ will John allow it to get to keep hold of that position! We don’t think it’ll take a decade for us to know that, eh!
John’s has a more customer focussed agenda, which includes upgradation of the site, revision of fee structure (he wants to lower the fees paid by people to list items & raise commission that eBay would earn on successful sales), and increasing search exposure for sellers with best buyer-satisfaction ratings. John prophetically commented, “Sellers that describe items accurately, ship on time & ship at a fair price will enjoy preferential pricing & discounts... this will significantly improve the buyer’s experience overall.”
Even the much praised Whitman has had her share of gut hits, notable being her open gamble to acquire Internet telephone service Skype last year for $2.6 billion. Skype did not generate expected revenues; worse, as its value fell, eBay had to write down a killing $1.4 billion. In fact, despite eBay seeing profits rise radically from 2004 to 2006 ($7.84 to $11.26 billion), Morgan Stanley quoted to B&E that the Skype acquisition was one of the chief reasons for a tremendous fall in eBay’s 2007 profits of $3.48 billion. Even Skype’s user and operating metrics decelerated across the board for the fifth consecutive quarter on December 31, 2007. Still, as Whitman announced her exit, eBay’s share value dropped almost instantly, dropping 6.1% to $27.18 before closing on January 25, 2008 at a 52-week low of $26.83, though Whitman did say of the new CEO Donahoe, “I’m extremely confident in John’s skills and the abilities of his veteran management team.”
They say it’s tough to become number one, but tougher to stay there! While Whitman has already showcased her cutting edge competitive skills to bring eBay to numero uno position in e-commerce, one wonders how much ‘tougher’ will John allow it to get to keep hold of that position! We don’t think it’ll take a decade for us to know that, eh!
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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