Why didn't eBay partner with MySpace? Well, I'm not sure. It could have been a combination of reasons. One reason could be that eBay didn't feel there would be any synergies from such a move. Another reason could be that paying more than $900 million for MySpace partnership could have rocked the share price further, especially
after investors accused eBay for overpaying for Skype and in light of the current sentiment.
However, only a day before the announcement that Google and MySpace partnered, auctionbytes.com had an article about the growing number of eBay sellers that are creating MySpace spaces in which they market their products and stores. This strategy actually translates into increased traffic to their eBay store, better placement of their products on searches, and even better sales as the two examples cited demonstrate.
Also, MySpace, as you recall, was hailed the single most visited U.S. site last month, topping Google and Yahoo! Mail. Partnering with MySpace when eBay is trying to gain exposure for its own contextual ad program would have achieved just that.
So should eBay have taken advantage of this information and leveraged it with another acquisition/partnership regardless of sentiment? I guess there's no easy way to answer that and only time will tell.
Closing Bell: When We All Love the PIIGS (NBG, SQNM, PG, ERTS, KO)
Serious Money: Cheapest Stocks List Shrinks from 26 to 21
Chasing Value: Hasbro Earnings Makes My Point
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-09-2006 @ 12:28PM
Ann Lambert said...
Myspace is not fruitful for eBay ads, on the flip side would be eBay's SKYPE/Myspace, NOW that is something to look foward to, I do believe that is one of Meg trump cards to launch in that 100 million plus market. One of reason Skype is not YET known, is has to be marketed with low risk/cost.
8-09-2006 @ 6:00PM
Tammy said...
That's because eBay is trying to compete with Myspace, they've been building their own primitive social network. Adding blogs, wiki, the existing forums. Ebay wants to make it a magical place like DisneyLand or something but Ebay is the most anti-social company around. Thugs. They're so stupid they don't even realize that the ostricize the community every time the show up. Ebays community is built by buyers & sellers. Ebays management is only the overseers and until they figure out how to see the point of view of ebayers, they'll never be accepted.