Written by John Lounsbury
Wednesday (17 April 2013) E-Bay (NASDAQ:EBAY) reported profit grew 19 percent to reach $677 million in the first quarter of 2013. The day before Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) also reported higher net profit, up 36 percent to $390 million. But the two companies have stories that diverge after one gets past the big earnings increases.
E-Bay’s Story
Powered by 18 percent growth of eBay’s payment service PayPal, the company’s revenue grew 14 percent. Total revenue reached $3.75 billion in the past quarter, of which PayPal contributed $1.55 billion. eBay’s Marketplaces generated $1.96 billion and thus remain the company’s primary source of revenue for now.
PayPal has long grown out of its role as a payment service solely for eBay’s Marketplaces. In the March quarter PayPal handled 682 million payments from 128 million active users. Active users of eBay’s Marketplaces grew from 112 to 116 millions in the past three months.
Today’s first info graphic chart from Statista.com illustrates eBay’s latest results.
Click on info graphic for larger image.
Yahoo’s Story
Tuesday Yahoo reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2013.
Yahoo’s net profit increased 36 percent to $390 million, mainly thanks to the company’s remaining stake in Alibaba and the rigorous cost-cutting measures implemented by CEO Marissa Mayer.
Revenue declined 7 percent to $1.14 billion in the first quarter, as Yahoo’s core business, selling ads, performed disappointingly. Display ad revenue fell 11 percent, as the number of ads sold dropped 7 percent.
Today’s second info graphic from Statista.com tells the Yahoo story.
Click on info graphic for larger image.
The sustained revenue decline for Yahoo over the past six years is seen in the following graph.
Click on graph from Statista.com for larger image.
Felix Richter, Statista.com, contributed to this article.
