eBay Inc. said yesterday that its consolidated net revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 increased 71 percent to $194.4 million, from $113.3 million a year earlier. Online net revenue in the quarter was up 80 percent to $185.4 million, from $102.8 million in 2000.
The company said its third-quarter revenue was driven by a better-than-expected performance of its U.S. operations, strong international growth and development of third-party advertising revenue.
Net income in the third quarter rose to $18.8 million, or 7 cents per share, from $15.2 million, or 6 cents per share a year ago.
“We're continuing to see sustained growth across our U.S. and international markets, deeper penetration into many vertical categories and expanded adoption of our fixed-price trading formats,” Meg Whitman, eBay's president/CEO, said in a statement.
Gross merchandise sales in the quarter were $2.3 billion, up 74 percent from last year's $1.3 billion. The online auction marketplace hosted 108.8 million listings in the third quarter, up 59 percent from the third quarter of last year, eBay said.
The company added 3.5 million registered users in the quarter and now has 37.6 million confirmed registered users, representing a 99 percent increase above last year's level, the company said.
Sales and marketing expenses in the third quarter rose to $66.3 million, representing 34 percent of net revenue. A year ago the company reported sales and marketing expenses of $41.1 million.
eBay said it expects fourth quarter net revenue between $200 million and $210 million, or between 11 cents and 12 cents per share, up about $5 million from previous estimates. Vigorous trading in its “Auction for America” program, from which a portion of the proceeds will go to relief efforts for the Sept. 11 attacks, should boost its fourth quarter revenue, the company said.
