Lockdown Boosts Q4 Results At eBay

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), a global commerce leader that connects millions of buyers and sellers around the world, today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.

“I am proud eBay was able to be there for our buyers, sellers and community, especially in the face of a global pandemic,” said Jamie Iannone, Chief Executive Officer at eBay. “We finished the year with strong financial results, but what inspires me most is the support we’ve been able to extend to small businesses -- providing them with tools, resources and access to millions of buyers globally. We will continue to invest in product and technology in order to deliver the best marketplace in the world for our customers.”

Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights
• Revenue was $2.9 billion, up 28% on both an as-reported basis and a foreign exchange (FX) neutral basis.
• Gross merchandise volume (GMV) was $26.6 billion, up 21% on an as-reported basis and up 18% on an FX-Neutral basis.
• GAAP net income from continuing operations was $781 million, or $1.12 per diluted share.
• Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations was $600 million, or $0.86 per diluted share.
• Generated $883 million of operating cash flow and $715 million of free cash flow from continuing operations.
• Annual active buyers grew by 7%, for a total of 185 million global active buyers.

Full Year Financial Highlights
• Revenue was $10.3 billion, up 19% on an as-reported basis and up 20% on an FX-Neutral basis.
• GMV was $100.0 billion, up 17% on both an as-reported basis and an FX-Neutral basis.
• GAAP and Non-GAAP operating margin were 26.4% and 31.3%, respectively.
• Repurchased approximately $5.1 billion of its common stock and paid $447 million in cash dividends.

Business Highlights
Initiatives
• eBay continues to scale its management of payments globally, announcing expansion plans to Greater China, along with further enablement for consumer sellers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. In Q4, over 38% of global on-platform volume was processed through managed payments, with over 50% of the payments migration completed in the U.S. eBay exited the quarter with over 1 million sellers migrated globally.
• Promoted Listings delivered over $215 million of revenue in Q4, up 60% on an as-reported basis and up 57% on an FXNeutral basis.
• The company’s total advertising revenue reached a new milestone in 2020, passing $1 billion in revenue for the year.

Tech-led Re-imagination of the Platform
• eBay recently launched its Authenticity Guarantee service for watches and quickly rolled the service to sneakers. In the U.S., the new experience is driving material growth in these two categories. The company’s luxury watch category experienced a double-digit GMV increase from Q3 to Q4 and the sneakers category saw triple-digit growth year-overyear in Q4.
• Refurbished gifts emerged as a top trend for eBay’s holiday shoppers, with the company’s newly launched Certified Refurbished destination selling out of many brands’ product offerings.
• Building on its success in the U.S., eBay launched an optimized Brand Outlet experience in the U.K. with 150 fashion brands offering products at deep discounts.
• The eBay app was downloaded more than 50 million times during 2020.
• Keeping with eBay’s commitment to being the platform of choice for sellers, the company launched a simplified C2C seller landing page, and new sell search page to improve the seller experience and increase listing completion rate.
• The company added new features to streamline the selling experience, like QR codes for eBay shipping labels, which allow sellers to download a mobile code to scan at the nearest post office or shipping retailer and print their label. The company also expanded Multi-User Account Access by adding Shipping Labels and Shipping Tracking support, providing sellers’ employees with access to full order fulfillment.
• eBay announced an exclusive partnership with Optoro, the leader in returns technology, to streamline the resale of returned and excess inventory and support the seller community by accelerating the pace of resale.
• In Q4, eBay’s Seller Initiated Offers feature surpassed $1 billion GMV since January 1, 2020.
• eBay’s Buy APIs reached $5 billion in GMV, up by $4 billion GMB from December 2019.
Impact
• The company announced the Up & Running Grants program, which will award eBay small business sellers in the U.S. with a $10,000 grant package, building on eBay’s long-standing commitment to small businesses and economic empowerment.
• Following the onset of the pandemic, eBay partnered with the U.K.’s National Health Service, the Department for Health and Social Care, Royal Mail, Clipper and Unipart to create a new platform to quickly and efficiently distribute PPE to frontline workers. In Q4, the NHS PPE Portal, powered by eBay, reached a significant milestone delivering more than one billion PPE items to more than 45,000 social care workers in the U.K.
• To create economic opportunity amidst the pandemic, the company partnered with the Federation of Small Businesses and Adecco Working Ventures to boost youth employment opportunities for up to 1,000 people in the U.K.
• eBay was recognized for its commitment to environmental and corporate responsibility through inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and North America Indices and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) A List.
• 2020 was a record-breaking year for eBay for Charity as it raised nearly $123 million in global charitable donations.

General Business Updates
• The company announced the appointment of two new executive leaders: Julie Loeger as Global Chief Growth Officer and Cornelius Boone as Chief People Officer.
• eBay announced it initiated a process to explore, review and evaluate a range of strategic alternatives for its Korea business. The company is considering options that would maximize value for its shareholders and create future growth opportunities for the business.
• Regarding the transfer of its Classifieds business to Adevinta, the company believes it remains on track to complete the transfer in Q1 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.

For more details on eBay's Q4 performance, please click here to view the results presentation.

Source : eBay Inc

Image : Valeriya Zankovych / shutterstock.com (1251361531)

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