Tony P.

eBay's Death by a Thousand Cuts

Past 'Bad' purchases and true growth are two seperate issues. So far, only one purchase by ebay could be termed, Good - Paypal. That is actually a Stellar purchase, the only drawback is that ebay waited too long to do the purchase. Paypal could have been had for $100M or so, early in their life - even at their IPO, total control could have been had for $140M.

Six months later, after Paypal business and stock was soaring, ebay decided the time had come. Besides, they just couldn't get the ebay buyers to accept Billpoint and the sellers certainly didn't accept it (no pun intended... well, maybe). That's when ebay made their greatest move to date, paying $1.5B for Paypal. Only TEN TIMES as much, if they hadn't drug their feet.

Just one more thing about those companies, Butterfields & Butterfields, Kruse International and Billpoint. They were all viable companies before ebay purchased them. By the time they were sold-off or abandoned, countless people had lost their jobs and/or their economic well-being, not to mention that the reputation of the two sold companies were damaged. But, who cares about them, right? Certainly not any yawning, insensitive person that comes across as a member of the self-imagined gentry.

Now, let's talk about ebay's phenomenal Growth. It is truly something, isn't IT? Absolutely, no doubt about IT, ebay is one spectacular example of growth. And it is all owed to the brilliant minds that so expertly guided IT for these last ten years. Yes?

No. The people made IT. Some people offered goods and other people bought those goods. It is that simple. The business thrived *in spite of* all the blunders made by the powers-that-be. The original concept, just like A-1 Sauce, was That Good.

If I were to open a whore house on the docks at Norfolk, it would be a spectacular success. I could take some of the credit, but I certainly couldn't pretend like I had invented sex. Pierre didn't invent eCommerce, but he did invent a method for it; Meg and Bill manipulated that Method, every-which-way, but they added very little that advanced the actual commerce. They did raise the fees every year, but those sailors... er, sellers are eager to "ply their wares".