The online trading platform Ebay closed the last Christmas quarter with an increase in sales. Revenues increased by two percent year-on-year to around 2.6 billion US dollars (2.4 billion euros). The profit increased by almost eight percent to 724 million US dollars, as eBay announced after the US stock market closed on Tuesday. The quarterly figures were above analysts’ expectations, and the shares temporarily rose by around four percent in after-hours trading.
Ebay is in fierce competition with, among others, Amazon and Chinese online retailers such as Temu and Shein. The number of buyers active on the platform remained unchanged at 132 million for the third quarter in a row. In the Christmas quarter of 2022 there were still 134 million.
Just in January, Ebay announced that it would cut around 1,000 jobs in order to reduce costs. The cuts will affect an estimated nine percent of full-time employees, as it was said at the time. Expenses grew faster than business, eBay boss Jamie Iannone explained the layoffs in an email to employees. (dpa)