Online auction giant eBay reported a slide in net profit for the fourth quarter in a row on Wednesday and a cautious outlook for the holiday season.
EBay, which also owns online payments company PayPal and Web communications firm Skype, said net profit declined 29 percent to US$350 million, or US$0.38 per share, in the third quarter compared with a year ago.
Revenue rose 6 percent in the quarter to US$2.2 billion, slightly better than the US$2.1 billion forecast by Wall Street analysts, who had also been expecting US$0.37 a share.
“Our third-quarter results were strong with PayPal gaining momentum and market share worldwide and our core eBay business showing positive trends,” eBay president and chief executive John Donahoe said in a statement.
EBay said revenue fell 1 percent to US$1.4 billion at its core auction site eBay.com and other e-commerce sites. It said international business accounted for 56 percent of revenue from the sites.
PayPal saw revenue climb 15 percent to US$688.1 million while revenue from Skype rose 29 percent to US$185.2 million.
EBay said Skype added 40.3 million registered users during the quarter and now has more than 520.8 million registered users.
EBay announced last month that it is selling 65 percent of Skype to a group of private equity investors. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
The San Jose, California-based eBay said it expects revenue of US$2.2 billion to US$2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, which would represent a jump of 10 percent over a year ago but on the low end of expectations.
EBay shares fell 4.71 percent in after-hours electronic trading to US$23.85.
“With the soft guidance seen, it is of little surprise at all that shares are down,” analyst Jon Ogg of 247WallSt.com said, adding that eBay “had already overly participated in the market rally.”
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