eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is recently up $1.67 to $34.19.

American Technology Research says: "We recommend that investors consider EBAY as a defensive play-the shares as attractively valued according to just about every traditional metric, EBAY offers insulation from a U.S. consumer spending slow-down via its substantial international exposure."

EBAY December option implied volatility is at 33, January is at 38 and April is at 40. EBAY average option implied volatility over the last 26-weeks is 37 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing near term risk.

Daily Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Any savvy eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) seller will tell you that oftentimes items sell better together. For instance, a set of 1959 Topps baseball cards would likely fetch more than the individual cards.

But other times, especially in the case of items that aren't really related, you'll get more listing them separately. For instance, The Backstreet Boys new CD probably wouldn't sell well packaged with Kurt Cobain's Journals.

Given the wide variety of business that eBay now has under its umbrella -- Skype, PayPal. StubHub, and others -- some are suggesting that it might be time for eBay to split itself up, or at least divest a few non-core assets. According to The Wall Street Journal [subscription]:

So why aren't investors giving eBay proper credit? Ms. Whitman's big $3.1 billion purchase of Skype and subsequent need to write-down that business's value left a lingering impression that she is an empire builder. One way to show that isn't the case would be to push some of eBay's businesses out of the tent.

PayPal might find independence handy. Rivals Amazon or Google might reconsider their aversion to using Paypal's services if it wasn't run by a competitor. Spinning it off or selling a stake in a public offering also might reduce the conglomerate discount attached to eBay. Selling may not be as fun as shopping, but it usually is more lucrative.

But The Journal already summed up the problem: All the indications would seem to be that Meg Whitman is an empire-builder, making any strategic changes unlikely without outside pressure.

This morning, our own Tom Barlow reported on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) earnings. Though Tom (and others) consider EBAY's purchase of Internet-phone company Skype "ill-advised," given its drag on company earnings, overall results were "pretty impressive" absent of this factor, exceeding market expectations on building revenue.

But despite the fact that Skype directly resulted in eBay's first negative quarter since 1999, for now the company is stuck with the unit, which eBay executives probably overvalued when they shelled out $2.6 billion. So now the auctioneering giant can only look forward with a planned reorganization of Skype.

CEO and co-founder of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom, stepped down from his position on October 1, leaving eBay Chief Strategy Officer Michael van Swaaiij in charge in the interim. Meg Whitman, president/CEO of eBay, told The Associated Press yesterday that "Moving to new management [for Skype] was completely the right thing to do. I actually feel confident in the business longer term ... it's always hard to forecast growth of a two-year old. It's now a four-year-old and it's almost the fastest startup in the Internet," Whitman added.

Yesterday, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced that the co-founder and chief executive of its Skype division, Niklas Zennstrom , was stepping down, and that eBay would take $1.43 billion in charges for the internet phone division. Of that, $900 million will be a write-down in the value of Skype, what's called an impairment charge. The rest, $530 million, is payment for certain shareholders to settle future obligations.

Well, well, well. It seems that eBay had finally caught on. Hadn't investors been saying the $2.6 billion Skype acquisition in October 2005 was overvalued from all along?

While Skype was profitable the last two quarters, its contribution to eBay's top line was abysmal considering it was one of three legs eBay was counting on in its Power of Three strategy. The other two being the online auction business, or market place, and PayPal, the online payment service. For 2006, Skype contributed $194 million to eBay's near $6 billion revenue, that's about 3.2%. To give you an idea, market place contributed $4.3 billion and PayPal $1.4 billion. In the first six months of 2007, Skype did better and contributed $168 million or 4.7% to eBay's total revenue of $3.6 billion. Better, and certainly growing nicely (over 100% year-over-year growth), but still a far cry from what it should be considering the price paid.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is recently up 13 cents to $26.88 in pre-open trading.

• YHOO is expected to report EPS on 10/16.
  
• YHOO October option implied volatility of 47 is above its 26-week average of 35 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

eBay (NASDAQS: EBAY) closed at $39.18.

• EBAY is expected to report EPS on 10/17.
  
• Goldman Sachs CO said on 9/26: "Raising estimates due to continued revenue/listing improvements."
  
• EBAY October at the money straddle is priced at $3.05. EBAY October option implied volatility of 37 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, indicating slightly larger risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

When eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) bought Skype last year, the company's CEO, Meg Whitman, argued that the $2.6 billion purchase made sense because of synergies. Most importantly, the estimation that eBay activity would increase as buyers and sellers could communicate via Skype.

But according to Breakingviews, Skype has "failed to live up to" this estimation. As a result, the synergies between Sykpe and eBay remain largely unnoticed or nonexistent.

Breakingviews makes an interesting point -- Skype would be an unbelievably useful tool for social networking websites. Both MySpace and Facebook are going to have huge money behind them in the next few years. MySpace, with the support of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), has potential as a buyer. However, Facebook is the better bet. With the company allegedly preparing for an IPO, Facebook's renegade founder Mark Zuckerburg will soon have the capital to acquire Skype if he so desires.

eBay and Skype don't really have any legitimate synergies. Auction activity hasn't been increasing due to the "Skype safety" that Whitman advocated at the time of purchase. But Skype remains a very valuable company, especially to a service that could actually integrate Skype effectively such as Facebook or MySpace.

EBay Inc's (NASDAQ: EBAY) announcement of another quarter of weak core listings, particularly in the United States and Germany, is leading to a new launch of the auction leader's webpage in the fall.

However, despite the need to reorganize its weak core product and get listings growing again, eBay continues to grow revenue, earnings and, especially, free cash flow. Better conversion rates and higher average selling prices (ASPs) are offsetting the weakness in listings.

This ability for eBay to grow these important metrics during a product transition demonstrates how powerful its platform is. Generating advertising revenue is another source of big revenue generation that is very much in its early stages of growth.

Paypal continues to be an outstanding business and a big contributor to cash generation. Skype, however, is beginning to roll over as activations are below target. While demonstrating strong initial growth, new initiatives need to be put in place to get this business model where it needs to be.

Meg Whitman, eBay's CEO, said the company is a social commerce business targeting people's innate desire to connect. It appears eBay has to improve its platform, but in the interim, it continues to grow ASPs and conversions. Not too many companies have had the ability to do that over time.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced second quarter results not too long ago and easily beat estimates. Sales were strong across all business segments.

Soon the webcast will begin and I'll be right here liveblogging the event with Meg Whitman and company. I want to hear what eBay has to say about the lower listings growth.

You can listen yourself to the webcast or just stay here and remember to refresh your page.

4:59 pm: Listening to violin music and waiting for the welcomes and the disclaimers that are bound to follow before we get to the real interesting stuff.

5:01 pm: OK, the webcast is officially starting late. I'll try to refresh, maybe it's me.

5:03 pm: And we're starting! Meg Whitman, Bob Swan and Bill Cobb. Disclaimers galore now. Checking eBay's stock price, down 0.9%.

5:05 pm: Meg is speaking, saying the quarter was great and giving some highlights. She sounds relaxed and calm, the best I've heard her in the past year.

DealBook reports that a somewhat surprising cast of characters is arriving at the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley, media investment conference.

Of all the investment conferences I know, due to its beautiful setting, leading players, and inevitable deal doing, this is the one I most regret not being able to attend. Regrettably, BloggingStocks is not sending me there. (Although to be fair, I never asked because I didn't know about it until today.) However, I can join everyone else in the world and follow along with those who are fortunate enough to attend.

Here's the list of some of the notable characters who have arrived so far:

You probably wouldn't believe just how much I think about eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). You could say I'm obsessed with the company and you'd be right but it's more than just a fixation for me. It's as if eBay has taken up a part of my very being. I spend several hours a day thinking about ways to improve that company. People think I hate eBay because I express disdain for the current management profile over there. I don't hate eBay. I dislike the way it's being run, all the while maintaining that eBay is my baby.

There are some wild and outlandish things that I think eBay could do in pursuit of reestablishing its growth cycle. You see, like it or not, eBay is slowing down. Personally I'm not surprised by that but I think this stalling phase has come upon eBay much too early. Yes, eBay is stalling way too early ... early by a decade.

Does eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) still have the image of a popular and friendly place to sell and buy everything from cars to beanie babies to cell phones to wrapping paper? The sheer amount of stuff on eBay for sale (from junky coffee cups to Hummers) still makes the company's website exceedingly attractive to millions of Americans, as well as millions of other consumers and sellers across the globe. But not all has been rosy for the world's largest online auction house in recent years. Rising fees, growing customer dissatisfaction, and an exodus of certain sellers all have been highly publicized and have given eBay a few large black eyes. The auction website keeps on churning though, and listings seem to be as plentiful as ever. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) even announced that is would discontinue its Yahoo! Auctions website soon. My guess? All auction customers were using eBay instead.

For a "newbie," trouncing around eBay looking for things can be a somewhat daunting experience. Does this make it likely that a transaction may not take place? After all, there are hundreds of Nintendo Wii accessories on eBay right this second -- what makes one better than the other? Are customers shopping on price alone, or opting to not shop at all? The auction juggernaut is reaching middle age, and it seems the stagnant strategy that was once darling to its customers and visitors is getting an overhaul. It's time for that midlife-crisis Corvette to spruce up its image, yes? What can eBay do in the next twelve months to grow beyond its past as an "online auction?" Meg Whitman, eBay's CEO, has a cryptic answer for that one.

A recent point Meg tried to make is that the company she leads needs to provide an easier experience when buying products from its auctions and make inroads (and off-ramps) to the online marketplace seem more like a physical shopping experience. Remember, eBay does not make money from browsers and lookers, but from transactions and listings. Anything that ups the number of transactions (which drives more listings) is a good thing for eBay and its investors. With that, eBay CEO Meg Whitman recently said "'Our user experience has always been fantastic, but it didn't keep up, in my view, as well as it should have ... you will see more changes to eBay's buyer experience in the next 12 months than you probably have seen in the past three or four years.'' Let's hope so.

eBay(NASDAQ:EBAY) volatility & share price are flat as Meg Whitman has been eBay for nine years. eBay is expected to report EPS in mid July. Goldman has a Buy rating with a $43 price target on eBay. Meg Whitman joined eBay in 1988. Years ago Whitman's said she would leave after eight to ten years. Meg Whitman has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, much of it in eBay stock. eBay's share price has underperformed Yahoo Inc.(NYSE:YHOO) over the last four years. eBay over all option implied volatility of 33 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting flat risk.

Bristol-Myers(NYSE:BMY) implied volatility Elevated prior to a judge's ruling. BMY is recently trading at $31.92 in pre-open trading, above its close of $30.31. Dow Jones reported "US Judge rejects bid by Apotex to invalidate Plavix patent." BMY received priority review for investigational oncology treatment Ixabepilone (treatment designed to inhibit the growth or development of cancer cells). BMY over all option implied volatility of 26 is above its 26-week average of 23 according to Track Data, indicating larger risk.

Option volume leaders today are: Yahoo (NASDAQ-:YHOO), United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAUA) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

According to CNBC, the feud between Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) could get a lot worse. Last week, eBay pulled its ads from Google in an apparent protest to Google Checkout's (a leading Paypal competitor) "Let Freedom Ring" party being held the same week as the annual eBay Live event. Sensing that it had acted insensitively, Google canceled the party, but eBay still hasn't come back.

eBay CEO Meg Whitman claims that she's not worried about Google Checkout, and denies that pulling the ads was a coordinated act of retaliation, although she admits to being none too pleased with the timing of Google's party. eBay doesn't allow Google Checkout as a payment method on its site, and essentially said that eBay would crush Google Checkout the same way it crushed Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Amazon.com Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AMZN) efforts at building auction sites.

Whitman said, "We're defending ourselves aggressively with PayPal. That is one of our core businesses. We're not going to let that go away to someone who'd kind of like to be in the business."

She's right that it's one of eBay's core businesses, but I wonder how successfully eBay will be able to defend it. The fact that it had to take the step of not allowing it as a method of payment on the site indicates that eBay can't really crush it on the merits: Google Checkout is a formidable competitor only a year into its life. eBay investors might want to look out. With the auction site in a slump, competitors making inroads into Paypal could spell disaster for Whitman and company.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman last week outlined eBay's current three-prong approach for battling the phishers and scammers who continually prey on unsuspecting eBay users. Red Herring reported that this past Thursday at the VISA Security Summit in Washington, DC, Ms. Whitman made it known that in the continuing effort to restore basic user security to their site would remain proactive and reactive. What I found to be a startling contrast to former eBay attitude on the subject was Ms. Whitman's admission that in this continuing effort eBay could not go it alone, as evidenced by her request for involvement in the anti-fraud efforts by the filtering of e-mail by ISPs, something which is unlikely to happen.

The three-prong approach that eBay is implementing is focused on protecting eBay users from unwittingly divulging important personal and financial information to people who have no business obtaining such data. The plan involves a key fob that accesses randomly generated passwords, the blacklisting of known fraudulent websites, and a request that ISPs only forward e-mail from recognized domains. On their face the conjoined ideas sound legitimate but analysts remain highly skeptical as to their usefulness effectiveness and implementation.

Losses from e-mail phishing and other data diversion tactics topped $2.8 billion for 2006. Reports say that the three major targets are PayPal, eBay, and commercial banks. Gartner analyst Avivah Litan said that eBay is "at the center of this hurricane for fraudsters." While eBay is certainly not at fault for the continuing onslaught upon their membership, this writer maintains that it needs to be far more transparent about its problems, far more helpful to its members, and far more aggressive in the successful prosecution of the individuals who continue to pillage eBay membership.

Key fobs are for keys. Prisons are for scammers. Let's get with it eBay.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX up 0.24 to 13.53

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) calls (quoted in Pennies) busy on chatter of private equity cash infusion. AMD is recently up $0.46 to $13.87. AMD has been frequently subject to LBO chatter; today chatter is circulating that a friendly private equity-strategic partner could surface to make cash infusion. Speculation is that AMD could announce a deal similar to the deal Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) announced on 1/23/07, when it received a $700 million dollar private placement from KKR. AMD call option volume of 73,560 contracts compares to put volume of 9,747 contracts. AMD April option implied volatility of 41 is below its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risks.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) implied volatility is low. Meg Whitman enters ninth-year working as eBay CEO. EBAY is recently up $0.23 to $31.72. Meg Whitman has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, much of it in EBAY stock. Years ago, Whitman said she would leave EBAY after eight to ten years. Whitman joined EBAY in 1998. EBAY has a market cap of $43 billion. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a market cap of $270 billion. EBAY overall option implied volatility of 34 is below its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, indicating decreasing risks.

Option volume leaders today are: SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK), AtheroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIX), Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL) and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).

Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.