eBay's President of Marketplaces Steps Down

eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has announced that its eBay Marketplaces president, Lorrie Norrington, is leaving her position for personal reasons, while CEO John Donahoe oversees while eBay searches externally for a replacement, Goldman Sachs reports.

Goldman writes "(1) eBay's guidance called for 3Q revenue of $2,130–$2,180 mn and EPS of $0.35-0.37. The company typically reports results close to the top end of guidance, which we ($2,175 mn/$0.37) and consensus modeled for the quarter. eBay's statement that 3Q results will indeed be near the top of guidance is incrementally positive, though may not carry much information about the widely-watched US Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) metric given variation in international GMV and domestic revenue take rates. (2) We believe it is important that eBay replace Lorrie Norrington expeditiously because the US marketplace faces competitive challenges and has experienced slowing non-motors GMV growth (up 6.5% yoy in 1Q, up 2.4% yoy in 2Q, we forecast flat-to-down yoy in 3Q). (3) eBay noted that it expects mobile transactions to generate over $1.5 bn GMV in 2010, accounting for about 2% of total GMV, and up from about $0.6 bn in 2009, testifying to the rapid growth of mobile commerce."

Goldman maintains its Neutral rating and $23 price target.

eBay, Inc. closed yesterday at $24.74.

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