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The Thoughts of Chief Executive Meg
December 20, 2006
Given events in China today and announcements on Skype last week, investors may be taking predictions by Meg Whitman, eBay chief executive, with more than a pinch of salt in future.
Here’s Meg talking at the eBay analyst day in February 2005:
“There are a bunch of small competitors nipping at our heels, but we are on a tear to be the undisputed winner in China.”
And then today, announcing eBay was closing its online marketplace and becoming a junior partner in a venture with Tom Online:
"By combining our expertise with that of a strong local partner like Tom Online, we are even better positioned to participate in this growing market."
That’s hardly a winner talking, Meg.
Then, when eBay bought Skype in October 2005 for $4bn, she told analysts :
"The price that anyone can provide for voice transmission on the net will trend towards zero."
Ebay followed that up with free Skype calls in the US and Canada to mobiles and landlines. Until last week that is, when it announced a new $30-a-year subscription plan to replace the free-calls programme.
That’s a lot cheaper than the monthly plans of regular phone companies, but it is "trending", just like eBay in China, in the completely opposite direction to that predicted by Chief Executive Meg.
Chris Nuttall, San Francisco
