eBay posted first-quarter 2010 revenue of $2.2 billion, up 9% year over year, or up 18% excluding Skype. The company attributed the increase to growth in the Payments and Marketplaces businesses, as well as a positive impact from foreign currency movements against the U.S. dollar. The company recorded net income of $397.7 million.
The Marketplaces business unit, which consists of eBay, Shopping.com, StubHub, eBay Classifieds and other ecommerce sites, recorded $13.4 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) excluding vehicles for the quarter. Revenue from Marketplaces was $1.4 billion for the quarter, a 13% increase compared to the first quarter of 2009.
Marketplace GMV grew 8% year-over-year ex-vehicles, FX-neutral, ex-Gmarket. (Vehicles, which were down 7% FX-neutral, accounted for 13% of total FX-neutral GMV.)
The company reported Marketplaces GMV growth rate of 24% ex-vehicles year-over-year (or 17% FX-neutral), but that includes GMV from its Korean Gmarket unit, which it acquired in the second quarter of last year. eBay said the GMV increase was due primarily to "growth across all of the company's ecommerce businesses, as well as the inclusion of Gmarket and the positive impact from foreign currency movements against the U.S. dollar."
- U.S. GMV (ex-vehicles) was up 6% in the quarter to 5.130 billion.
- eBay broke out total Marketplaces GMV data into Fixed Price, Auctions and Vehicles. It pegged fixed-price growth at 43% year over year in the first quarter; however, excluding Gmarket (acquired in Q2-2009), fx-neutral fixed-price growth rate was 17% in Q1-2010. Auctions GMV was up 2% year-over-year.
- FX-Neutral GMV broke out as follows: 53% Fixed Price listings; 34% Auctions; and 13% Vehicles.
- International business accounted for approximately 60% of Marketplaces revenue for the first quarter.
- Global active users were up 1% to 89.5 million. eBay said Active users accelerated in its three largest markets, but was offset by smaller Western European markets.
The Payments business unit reported an increase of 35% in net total payment volume year over year, and an increase of 26% in revenue year over year. "The growth in revenue and net TPV was driven primarily by continued momentum in PayPal's Merchant Services business and growth on the eBay platform."
eBay hosted a conference call with investors after releasing earnings on Wednesday. eBay CEO John Donahoe and CFO Bob Swan gave a presentation and then answered questions. Mr. Donahoe discussed some of the Marketplaces initiatives during the first quarter, including rolling out eBay Buyer Protection in the U.S. and U.K.; launching three new buying and selling mobile applications; and introducing Fashion.ebay.com, a new shopping destination for clothing, shoes and accessories.
The full press release is found on the eBay Investor Relations page. Note that "FX" refers to currency exchange.
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