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Bloomberg
EBay Inc projected revenue in the current quarter that didn’t convince investors the company’s efforts to revive sales are beginning to work. The shares declined in premarket trading.
Revenue will be $2.46 billion to $2.5 billion in the period ending in March, or about the same as a year earlier. In the fourth quarter, sales fell 3.9% to $2.51 billion. The e-commerce company said it had 134 million active buyers in the period ended on December 31, a drop of 9% from a year earlier and the seventh straight quarter of declines.
“EBay is back to where it was before the pandemic, losing customers and declining sales,†said Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co Investors question if managers can turn it around, he said.
“Unless you’re looking for an odd item, EBay is forgotten by most consumers. You just don’t hear a lot about it the way you do the Walmarts, Targets and Amazons of the world.†CEO Jamie Iannone is trying to reduce expenses to align with declining sales after a pandemic-era boom petered out. EBay announced it would cut about 500 employees, or 4% of its workforce.
The company is aiming to sell more luxury items like watches to boost revenue while also offering refurbished items to appeal to price-conscious shoppers. In an effort to lure collectors, EBay provides a service to authenticate trading cards and other items and has been building climate-controlled vaults to store them.