Preview

EBay’s strategic decision on the acquisition of PayPal

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2054 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
EBay’s strategic decision on the acquisition of PayPal
EBay’s strategic decision on the acquisition of PayPal
Introduction:
Aim of this report is to critically analyse EBay’s strategic decision on the acquisition of PayPal before it occurred. The report will analyse the company and its operating environment, this analysis will discuss the external and internal factors, of EBay and the implications of their environment in relation to the factors analysed. This in-depth analysis will be aided with analytical tools such as PESTLE, SWOT, and the use of rich picture. Subsequently with the analytical findings, suggested strategic options will be discussed which EBay may have opted to choose.
EBay’s History:
EBay was established in September 1995 by Pierre Omidyar as an online auction website in the United States; by 1997 the site posted two million auctions creating the name EBay rather than AuctionWeb and branched out from collectibles into different goods within the market. EBay is now becoming the biggest online marketplace providing a facility for buyers and sellers to communicate, consequently generating millions of customers in foreign markets as well as the United States (eBay Inc).
EBay’s Internal and external environment
When a company is faced with its external environment changing within its industry it provides the company with opportunities to reconsider its strategies to help maintain its competitiveness (Giesen et al 2010). Therefore analysing EBay’s environment before the acquisition of PayPal will help aid the understanding of this decision implemented, exploring and discussing both internal and external factors which may have had an influence upon EBay’s strategic decision. The analytical tools of PESTLE and SWOT are going to be used as these methods helps decision making, planning, evaluating and the development of products or services due to the exploration of a company’s environment (Gorgenlander 2001). PESTLE analysis examines a company’s environment and helps identify possible market

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Case Study EBAY

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages

    eBay is one of the world's largest online marketplaces, and allows users to buy and sell in nearly every country on earth; PayPal enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive digital payments; and eBay Enterprise enables omni-channel commerce, multichannel retailing and digital marketing for global enterprises in the U.S. and internationally.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    EBay Inc. is an American multinational corporation and e-commerce company, providing consumer-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via the internet. EBay is an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and series worldwide. In addition to its auction-style sales, the website has since expanded to include ‘Buy-It-Now’ shopping.…

    • 3494 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ebay Facts and Figures

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages

    eBay is The World's Online Marketplace® with a global customer base of 233 million. Founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995, eBay has created a powerful marketplace for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and small businesses. eBay now has a global presence in 37 markets, including the United States.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Credit Card and Paypal

    • 9353 Words
    • 38 Pages

    With eBay focusing on PayPal as the primary engine of its growth, we take a deeper look at the value of the Payments unit, and its growth opportunities over the coming years. We continue to believe the upper range of the company’s outlook for $4B-$5B in F’11 revenues could be difficult to reach, but think $4B could be achievable. At a 20x multiple to our F’11E segment Net Income, the PayPal business would be worth $9B. • Off-eBay growth will be key. We estimate that, by 2011, eCommerce and online travel will combine to be over $1 trillion worldwide, up from $770B in 2008. By our estimates, PayPal accounted for ~4.2% of the off-eBay volume of combined eCommerce and travel last year. We believe the number would need to rise to more than 6.0% in F’11 in order for the company to meet the low end of its F’11 revenue target. • Increasing on-eBay penetration remains a driver. The maturation of PayPal in international markets can be a key catalyst for increasing penetration, as the low-hanging fruit on the domestic site has largely been picked. Further, expanding credit offerings to make PayPal a viable option for higher-ticket items can help offset sluggish GMV growth. • BillMeLater should improve longer-term funding mix. Segment margins in the two quarters since the BML acquisition have been down 500 bps Y/Y. However, because BML is funded through ACH, we think it can improve PayPal’s funding mix, and eventually drive better margins. • Brand is a valuable asset. Alone among online-only players, PayPal has established a payment brand to compete with incumbent players such as Visa and MasterCard. We believe PayPal can continue to push penetration as an alternative payment platform; alternatively, PayPal could try to expand its footprint in the payments ecosystem and become a merchant acquirer, focusing especially on smaller and mid-size merchants.…

    • 9353 Words
    • 38 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ebay Turnaround Strategy

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The company known as eBay, which started in 1995, grew significantly within a decade to become the number one e-commerce site in the world by sales revenue. In 2008, Donahoe took over as the new CEO of eBay. This was a time when the company was facing issues with growth and consumer behavior was changing. What used to be a thrilling experience for buyers was now an inconvenient waste of time and money. Consumers who were eager to bid against each other for products online were now satisfied with buying new products at fixed prices. Therefore, ebay’s turnaround strategy was to bring the consumers the best experience to find what they want exactly how and when they want it. Although traditional eBay sellers complained about the difficulty for them to do business profitably with the new strategy, Donahoe believed buyers wanted fixed prices, quick service, and free shipping. I agree with Donahoe’s turnaround strategy because eBay had to focus on the market demands to see growth. Something had to be done in a market where consumers wanted fixed prices and free shipping that they were receiving from companies like Amazon.com.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ebay vs Amazon

    • 2137 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In a world where trade is increasingly becoming digitalized online, there are new and challenging strategies emerging. This essay aims to analyze and determine these strategies. Considering the example of eBay and Amazon, their business models and their multi-sided platforms, we can compare them to decide which strategies work in this market and how, in the future, they can keep a competitive edge as the market continuously changes. However, as Amazon and eBay have eventually crossed paths in an attempt to expand in the ecommerce market, the question persists whether the market is big enough for both. This essay will look at how eBay and Amazon have evolved their business structure and how changes in the market have caused both firms to reconsider their core strategies and growth strategies.…

    • 2137 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    EBay Inc. Is one of the leading internet companies in the world. Founded in 1995 by French Iranian Pierre Omidyar, eBay is employing more than 15500 people while generating total revenue of 11.65 billion dollars as of 2011 (eBay Inc 2011 Results). The company was founded in San Jose, California with a vision of connecting people rather then sells them goods. The company has now about a billion registered users and is the most popular shopping site on the Internet.…

    • 2066 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    eBay

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The company eBay was found in 1995 and since then they have had much growth and success over the years. They became the dominant player in the online auction house industry through their unique business model. Their business model united buyers and sellers in an online marketplace and attracted 221 million registered users. Their unique business model enabled e-commerce at multiple levels including local, national, and international through an array of websites that they have acquired. eBay acquired several online competitors such as PayPal, Rent.com, Shopping.com and most recently a partnership with Xiu.com, eBay Style. These trading platforms allowed eBay to offer distinct services and target-specific market niches. This allowed them to penetrate new market spaces and attract a range of users. The company also expanded internationally and have been successful in certain markets. eBay was considered a leader in each of its market with the except of Japan and China. eBay’s first attempt into China’s market was through the acquisition of a Chinese online auction company, Eachnet. They integrated their global strategy platform to Eachnet’s Chinese operations, essentially changing how the website originally operated. Since then, the company has lost most of their market share to local competitor Taobao. After several years eBay then decided to partner with Beijing-based Tom Online. This indicated that eBay failed to adapt to local needs and successfully compete with China’s online auction market leader, Taobao. This shows that eBay failed to create a community effect in China as they did with their other international markets through their…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During a Labor Day weekend in 1995 Pierre Omidyar (engineer) developed what he said was an “experiment”: What would happen if everyone in the world had equal access to a single global marketplace? Pierre’s idea would grow from a basic auction site that sold a broken laser pointer to a collector for $14.83; into a multinational corporation with a Global software strategy that served over 100 million users that in 2010, selling more than $62 billion in goods worldwide on EBay. This expediential growth has propelled EBay to be the world’s largest online market place. EBay started in the United States, which still accounts for a large part of EBay’s profits, but as EBay continues to expand the international market has started to outpace the national market. In 2010 international sales accounted for 51% of eBay profits. EBay’s unprecedented growth in the global market has been an astonishing feat of strategic marketing and branding with its use of joint ventures, licensing, and purchasing of wholly owned subsidiaries to create a recognizable and dominant brand throughout the world.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ebay Expansion in China

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages

    * Taking the advantages of its matured operations of the U.S C2C third-partier business, eBay entered the Chinese market with confidence and a strong backup. Unlike the premature Taobao that is yet to gain real experience in C2C operations (Alibaba, founded in 1999 also by Jacky Ma focuses primarily on B2B industry services), eBay EachNet applied its U.S business model and soon formed alliances with top Chinese internet portals—Sina, Sohu and NetEase as well as leading vertical websites.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    J.Gopalkrishnan* V.K Gupta** Abstract eBay, Inc. is the largest and most popular marketplace on the Internet, allowing members to buy and sell almost anything. Launched in 1995, about 147 million people now use eBay. An estimated 430,000 people in the United States make all or most of their living by selling on eBay. eBay’s online payment service, called PayPal, enables transactions nearly anywhere in the world. eBay proclaims “trust” between buyers and sellers as the key to the success of the marketplace. eBay is the “The world’s Online Marketplace”, which is its positioning statement, and it means many things about the company’s identity. It enables trade on local, national and international basis, with a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses. eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each day. The objective at eBay was to “to develop the work ethic and culture of eBay as a fun, open and trusting environment and to keep the organization focused on the big picture objectives and key priorities. The company market capitalization had surpassed that of even Amazon.com, making it the “world’s most valuable Internet retailer”. Pierre Omidyar, founder, is focused to achieve excellence in strategic management for improving the company’s strategy, sustaining the company’s growth and business performance, and potentially expanding from online auctions into general “etailing”, and to become “the world’s largest online mall”. This research paper intends to study the click and click business model of eBay, whose competitive advantage lies in its pure play strategy, a breakthrough from the traditional brick and mortar model, which leads to sustainable growth and a competitive edge over the other retailers. Keywords: Online marketplace, etailing, work ethics, online auctions/platform/mall Introduction: eBay establishes itself as the “The world’s Online…

    • 3985 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Walmart History

    • 3732 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Omidyar's purpose was to establish a self-regulating online marketplace. A central premise of Omidyar's online marketplace was the belief that people are essentially honest (eBay, 2005). Reporting on a recent 10-year anniversary "fireside chat" with Omidyar and eBay's first president Jeff Skoll, an eBay staffer explained that, "the site was based on a relatively simple idea: given the opportunity, people would do the right thing such as sending money to strangers to buy items online. Named "Auction Web", the sites initially function like an online flea market, with buyers and sellers trading collectibles, garage sale items, and assorted junk. Omidyar encouraged organic growth of the company which continues to this day allowing sellers to decide what items to list and shaping the direction of the company through buyer and seller demand and feedback. The business which offered a free service to both buyers and sellers was initially operated out of Omidyar's living room. The site began to make a name for itself through word of mouth and the number of registered users at the site grew rapidly in late 1995/early 1996. Auction Web was incorporated in California in May of 1996, with Omidyar serving as CEO and his friend Jeff Skoll as President. To cover the costs of operating the business, Auction Web also began to charge a fee to auction items…

    • 3732 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    eBay first entered the Chinese market in 2002 by acquiring a 33% stake in its local counterpart, EachNet, followed by a full acquisition a year later in 2003. Critically assess eBay.s choice of market entry strategy for China, listing both the advantages and disadvantages of its acquisition strategy.…

    • 1642 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ebay History

    • 3450 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Millions of buyers and sellers have made eBay Inc. the world's largest and most popular Internet site for individuals and businesses to exchange goods. By 1999 eBay had 5.6 million registered users and listed over 3.1 million items for sale; by 2004 there were an estimated 65 million registered users from 150 countries, 971 million items for sale, and gross merchandise sales hit $15billion. eBay owns local sites in 19 countries, has stakes in another eight foreign nations, and provides users with its own online pay service, PayPal Inc. As eBay's revenues continue to grow, the sky seems the limit despite competition from Yahoo!, Amazon.com, and an ever increasing number of imitators.…

    • 3450 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    This assignment firstly is to analyse the current competitive environment of Priceline.com by using Porter’s five force model, using SWOT analysis tool to discuss the strengths and weakness, next is to analyse the business model and what Priceline.com create value for its customer, then analyse why Priceline.com will ultimately succeed, last is to introduce the Priceline model to be applied in other industry area.…

    • 3218 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays