October 6, 2008 5:27 AM PDT

eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000

by Margaret Kane
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eBay will lay off about 10 percent of its workforce, the company announced Monday, and said third-quarter results will come in at the low end of expectations.

The company also announced plans to acquire online payments business Bill Me Later for $820 million in cash and approximately $125 million in outstanding options, as well as Danish classifieds specialist Den Bla Avis and vehicle site BilBasen for approximately $390 million in cash.

eBay said its workforce reduction, which cuts about 1,000 jobs, will result in a pretax restructuring charge of between $70 million and $80 million, which will be taken in the fourth quarter of 2008, eBay said. The online retailer will also let go several hundred temporary workers and reduce the number of open positions.

The company, scheduled to report third-quarter results on October 15, said on Monday that it expects to hit the low end of its revenue guidance, and exceed GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share. eBay said in July that it expected net revenues of between $2.1 billion and $2.15 billion for the third quarter, with GAAP earnings per diluted share of between 30 cents and 32 cents per share, and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of between 39 cents and 41 cents per share.

Previously: Amazon invests in BillMeLater. Our advice: Say no now.

Margaret is news editor for CNET News, based in the Boston bureau. She also oversees the CNET Blog Network. E-mail Margaret.
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by Ayamore October 6, 2008 6:17 AM PDT
eBay shareholders are disgusted with this "Buy Everything" company! They want to see a profit! eBay is down 60% from it's high. Meaning they are on their way out! $100.00 dollars invested in eBay 3 years ago is now worth only $40.00 dollars. eBay keeps buying up companies for millions of dollars that turn out to be dogs, and now they are laying off thousands of workers to make their numbers come out right? This company is another Enron who is self destructing from the inside!
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by atulkumthekar October 6, 2008 8:29 AM PDT
well.. thats capitalism. who are you and me to dictate? The rules of dictation are different.
by renaisanc9 November 19, 2008 1:32 AM PST
Indeed, SELF-DESTRUCT it will! It is not only one of the greediest companies, it is FASCISTIC to the point of behaving UNLAWFULLY, denying Sellers their CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

As we speak, there are many CLASS ACTION SUITS against eBay. I am, however, surprised that the MOTHER of all Class-Action suits has not yet hit the fan!... the on in which there will be TENS OF THOUSANDS.

The funny thing is that this Fascist company thinks it can get away with anything if it uses strong-arm, Nazi techniques (veiled, of course), but this will be its ultimate downfall. One need only peruse the Internet to see the hundreds (if not thousands) of negative articles on eBay.

Sockholders are ALREADY DUMPING this Fascistic Nazi stock... during the coming months, as more and more Sellers abandon this monstrous dictatorship, the stock is sure to continue its downward spiral. I just hope stockholders can ESCAPE before they lose all... as eBay scrambles to BUY BACK its unwanted shares!

What a hoot! Please, GOOGLE & AMAZON, get it together... We, The People, NEED a Democratic ALTERNATIVE to FNeeBay!
by ewelch October 6, 2008 6:37 AM PDT
I can't believe it! Those scumbags should be blocked from buying Bill-Me-Later!

eBay must be stopped. They are a greater threat to online commerce than Microsoft by a long shot.
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by Galaxy5 October 6, 2008 6:40 AM PDT
"This company is another Enron who is self destructing from the inside!"

You can thank Meg "Peter Principle" Whitman. Except she did prove smart enough to leave before the house of cards came down on her head.
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by Renegade Knight October 6, 2008 7:06 AM PDT
Lay off the folks that made eBay great. Buy yet another company. This explains why eBay rather sucks anymore.
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by Galaxy5 October 6, 2008 8:15 AM PDT
I noticed they had the A-1 tree-trimming service at the "Whitman Campus" today.

Money to make the place look nice, but not enough to make it work well. Pretty much sums things up for eBay.
by akandrews October 6, 2008 7:30 AM PDT
and Meg Whitman supports McCain.... I guess what goes around comes around
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by Vegaman_Dan October 6, 2008 7:51 AM PDT
I'm just waiting for Amazon and Google to merge and then take out Ebay. It seems to be the path that is shaping up with consolidations of company these days.
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by michaelo1966 October 6, 2008 7:52 AM PDT
eBay: Run by a McCain economic advisor. Typical Republican tactics: pump, bail, then watch as everybody who trusted you gets dumped on. Suppose she'll say it's OK because the money she made will trickle-down, right? Or maybe they'll demand a government bailout, no string attached of course.
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by Too Old For IT October 6, 2008 7:58 AM PDT
This is the wrong approach in these hard times. EBay should maintain their employees, and add to their workforce in order to support the American worker.

Companies that lay off during tough economic times have only themselves to blame when memories are long and people shun their products and services when times are good again.
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by jscott418 October 6, 2008 9:57 AM PDT
Ebay is looking at controlling online purchases and reaping the service fee's from such transactions.
Its one reason that their PayPal payment service is going to become the exclusive payment option for Ebay. They know that credit services is the very profitable. I am surprised by the negative response from the investors. But I think that was in response to the initial investment in buying PayMe Later and the fact that their Ebay business is flat.
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by Devo79 October 6, 2008 11:14 AM PDT
"A company's shareholders collectively own that company. Thus, such companies strive to enhance shareholder value." (Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholders)

eBay has the responsibility to enhance its stockholders value. If you?re an eBay stockholder and you don?t like management?s vision (purchasing Den Blå Avis and BilBasen), pay, or social priorities (reducing workforce by 10%), you have the option of replacing management by your vote; or you can sell your eBay stock and purchase stock in a company that aligns more closely with your views.

@michaelo1966
A bailout never should have happened. Companies run poorly should go bankrupt. That?s the simple free market truth. If the shareholders hire/elect someone that ruins the company, they bear the financial responsibility of doing so. The problem is that Government Sponsored Entities (GSE?s) aren?t guided by the Invisible Hand.

And it was McCain who wanted to reform these entities; not Obama, who is advised by former executives of the failed companies.
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by ewelch October 6, 2008 7:21 PM PDT
Geeze, you republicrats (a.k.a. neoc-ons) are really in the reality distortion field, aren't you? Meg Whitman, who's failing company used to be great, so she's popular, and Carly Fiorina, who likes to spy on employees like Bush likes to spy on Americans - illegally. Seems to me it's the beginning of a fascist movement that will end in no good.

Obama's got a plan. McCain doesn't. Read this!

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/10/13/081013taco_talk_editors
by fauxtographer October 6, 2008 1:26 PM PDT
Until last year I had sold on eBay for over 10 years. At one time I averaged 500+ listing a week. I have not listed for over a year even though I have a garage full of left over inventory. I'm bit by bit donating it to various charities as I have no intent of returning to eBay. Just got to be where too many people each wanted their undeserved percentage (increasing percentages) of my efforts and productivity.

None of this is a surprise. The only surprise is how long it's taken for them to reap the just rewards for turning their backs on the little people who built them up.
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by gggg sssss October 6, 2008 5:52 PM PDT
10000 people to run a website? ***?
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by mearsfan42 October 6, 2008 5:54 PM PDT
I wonder if Amazon.com will keep Bill Me Later, now that Ebay owns them?
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by NYM_Arts October 18, 2008 5:43 PM PDT
This JUST IN :
From Chris Fain President, CEO OnlineAuction.com , OLA.com October 18, 2008 :

"Lets roll....Tell everyone to head to OLA.com and become Founding Members this should drive enough traffic our way and build up enough revenue for us to have a substantial advertising budget. For instance if everyone kicks in their $196.00 and we have One Million Founding Members I will spend no less than (90%)$176,400,000 dollars promoting all OLA Members products !...Tell everyone on the boards to get over here!!!....Lets do it. "

Email EVERYONE who Ever Sold on Ebay and is Looking for a Brand Shiny New Home !
Email EVERYONE looking to Turn Back the Clock to the "Good Ole Days" of Auction FUN ! ! !
Remember : THE ACTION FOLLOWS US
LET'S BRING IT !
OLA > No Hassles, No Rediculous Fees, No Big Brother Crap.
nymarts.com
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by classifieds January 11, 2009 5:26 PM PST
Ebay with BillMeLater Danish specialist and vehicle site in cash is quite an investment.
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by classifieds January 26, 2009 8:56 PM PST
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&webtag=ab-moneyover55&tid=14
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by classifieds January 26, 2009 8:57 PM PST
http://adlandpro.ws
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