Dive Brief:
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San Jose, CA-based eBay Inc. Wednesday reported Q1 marketplace revenue dropped 4% to $2.07 billion, in part dinged by the strong dollar. Overall revenue was $4.45 billion, exceeding the forecast from Zacks Investment Research analysts, which were closer to $4.44 billion, according to the Associated Press. Net income was 51 cents per share and earnings were 77 cents per share, also exceeding expectations of closer to 71 cents per share.
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By contrast, PayPal's revenue was up 14% to $2.1 billion in the first quarter. This is the first time PayPal's revenue has eclipsed eBay's.
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EBay also said Wednesday that it’s working to steady its marketplace business ahead of its split from PayPal, which is now expected to happen in Q3.
Dive Insight:
EBay says that the strong dollar resulted in Q1 numbers that don’t reflect the health of its marketplace, which it says is seeing steady business. The company appears to have finally emerged from last year’s troubles, including a major adjustment to Google’s search results and a data breach.
But this Q1 report shows how dim eBay’s results are compared to the shine of PayPal’s, something that will likely be even more of a problem for the company post-split.
