O.J. EBAY, Big surprise.. also CTIX, between CTIX and EBAY we should have another good one tomorrow. I didn't hold EBAY but got a bundle out of MSPG, there is always another trade around the bend gang. AOL options surged today but we got in on Friday when prices were cheaper. CLose to a double bagger on those AOL options as well.
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eBay Inc. Announces First Quarter 1999 Financial Results
Achieved Record First Quarter Net Revenues of $34.0 million
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY - news; www.ebay.com), the world's largest person-to-person online trading community, today reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 1999.
(Photo: newscom.com )
The Company generated net revenues of $34.0 million in the first quarter of 1999, a 469 percent increase over the $6.0 million reported for the same period last fiscal year. Gross profit margin decreased to 85 percent for the quarter from 89 percent a year ago. Net income for the current quarter was $5.9 million, or $0.05 per share on a fully diluted basis. eBay's net income before the effect of non-cash charges related to stock based compensation and acquisition expenses was $7.0 million, or $0.05 per fully diluted share, compared with $569,000 or $0.01 per fully diluted share during the first quarter of fiscal 1998.
The primary contributor to the increase in revenues for the quarter was the increased activity on the site. Gross merchandise sales (the value of goods traded) for the current quarter were $541 million, up 76 percent from the $307 million reported in the fourth quarter of 1998. The number of registered users increased more than 1.6 million to over 3.8 million at March 31, 1999, an increase of about 75 percent from the more than 2.1 million registered users at December 31, 1998. In addition, eBay hosted over 22.9 million auctions during the first quarter of 1999, up from 13.6 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
The Company remains committed to providing a safe, easy-to-use trading environment on the eBay site. As a result, the Company made significant personnel investments during the first quarter which affected costs in all income statement categories. Cost of sales increased during the first quarter largely due to labor and related costs associated with the Company's expansion of its customer service department and depreciation of recently acquired site equipment. In addition, the Company realized additional costs in volume-driven transactional expenses such as ISP connectivity charges and bank processing charges for customer fees paid by credit cards. The increase in sales and marketing expenses in the first quarter over the prior period was primarily due to personnel growth, the expansion of online advertising, tradeshow programs and international marketing. Product development expenses increased due to additional headcount and the use of consultants, but were otherwise relatively unchanged compared to the fourth quarter of 1998. General and administrative expenses increased substantially over the previous quarter again primarily due to the Company's investment in personnel, increases in professional service fees and incremental costs associated with being a public company.
For the first quarter, eBay recorded certain non-cash charges of $666,000 and $453,000 related to the amortization of stock compensation and acquisition-related expenses, respectively. The Company recorded a tax provision of $4.3 million, representing an effective tax rate of 42 percent of first quarter pretax income.
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