EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1065088
Filing Year: 2024
Filename: 1065088_10-K_2024_0001065088-24-000036.json

---

ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1: BUSINESS
Unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, when we refer to “we,” “our,” “us,” “eBay” or the “Company” in this annual report on Form 10-K, we mean eBay Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.
Overview
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, California, eBay Inc. is a global commerce leader that connects people and builds communities to create economic opportunity for all. Our technology empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world, providing everyone the opportunity to grow and thrive. Our Marketplace platforms, including our online marketplace located at www.ebay.com and its localized counterparts, our off-platform businesses in Japan and the United States, and our suite of mobile apps, together, create one of the world's largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and unique selection. In 2023, eBay enabled more than $73 billion of gross merchandise volume. For more information about the Company and its global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.
Our Strategy
As a global commerce leader and third-party marketplace, our technologies and services are designed to provide buyers choice and a breadth of relevant inventory from around the globe, and to enable sellers’ access to eBay’s 132 million buyers worldwide. Our business model and pricing are designed so our business is successful when our sellers are successful. We earn revenue primarily through fees collected on paid sales, inclusive of payment processing and first-party advertising.
eBay’s strategy is to leverage technology to enhance the marketplace experience for our customers to drive growth in Gross Merchandise Volume (“GMV”), while increasing the rate of revenue growth through our advertising initiatives and delivering healthy operating margins. Beginning in 2020, we embarked on a multi-year journey to build more compelling category experiences for enthusiastic consumers, to become the partner of choice for sellers and to strengthen trust in relationships with buyers on our Marketplace platforms. In 2023, we evolved our strategy to focus on reinventing the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts. We derived a majority of GMV in 2023 from the following product categories: parts & accessories, collectibles, fashion, electronics, and home & garden.
Since late 2021, eBay has managed payments for all transactions on our Marketplace platforms, delivering buyers and sellers a simplified end-to-end payments experience. Through managed payments, we are able to provide a frictionless experience for current and next-generation customers, consistent with today’s retail standards. We offer buyers more flexibility and choice in how to pay and offer sellers a more streamlined way to run their businesses.
We are focused on growing our first-party advertising revenue through our suite of Promoted Listings products while reducing our focus on non-strategic, third-party advertising. We currently offer several Promoted Listings products, including: Promoted Listings Standard (a cost-per-acquisition product), Promoted Listings Express (a cost-per-acquisition product for auction listings), Promoted Listings Advanced (a cost-per-click product) and External Promoted Listings (an off-platform advertising product). Through our portfolio of Promoted Listings offerings, we provide sellers with data-driven recommendations to improve their conversion and drive velocity, while testing and building more technology features to drive growth, position eBay as the seller’s platform of choice and surface relevant inventory to buyers.
We have acquired, and also disposed of, a significant number of businesses, technologies, services and products, and we maintain investments in certain businesses. We regularly review and manage our investments to ensure they support eBay’s strategic direction and complement our disciplined approach to value creation, profitability and capital allocation. We expect to continue to evaluate and consider potential strategic transactions as part of our strategy, including business combinations, acquisitions and dispositions of businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets, as well as strategic investments and joint ventures.
Our Customer Offerings
We provide a number of features for our sellers and buyers that align with our approach to becoming the partner of choice for sellers and building life-long, trusted buyer relationships. These offerings are designed to build trust and confidence on our Marketplace platforms and drive GMV.
To become the partner of choice for sellers, we continuously invest in technology to deliver quality selling experiences and products to grow the seller tools ecosystem. Our new magical listing experience offers an artificial intelligence (“AI”) driven description for all listings across our Marketplace platforms - desktop, mobile and app - reducing the time to list and enhance seller experience. In 2023, we expanded our Promoted Listings offerings to help our sellers drive greater velocity and price realization for their inventory. We also expanded the eBay International Shipping program for United States sellers surfacing millions of listings to buyers across more than 190 countries while removing the friction of international shipping and customs formalities.
To further strengthen our buyers’ confidence and trust in our services, we offer “eBay Money Back Guarantee,” which allows buyers to receive their money back if the item they ordered does not arrive, is faulty or damaged or does not match the listing. eBay Money Back Guarantee covers most items purchased on the eBay Marketplace platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, France, Italy and Spain through a qualifying payment method. In addition, eBay authenticates eligible luxury and collectible items in five categories through “Authenticity Guarantee”, an independent authentication service available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Canada. In our parts & accessories category, we focused on fitment to ensure that automotive enthusiasts are able to find the right parts to fit their vehicles by integrating the acquired technical capabilities of MyFitment onto our platforms. We also continue to expand our eBay Refurbished offering, a dedicated destination that brings inventory from pre-selected brands and top rated sellers with standardized condition grading, to meet consumer demand for top products backed by a warranty.
Our Impact and Responsibility
eBay’s purpose is to empower people and create economic opportunity for all through our technology for our global community of users. Every day, people build businesses on our Marketplace platforms. With a low cost of entry for sellers, we offer a highly accessible way for all types of users to interact in a global marketplace that’s inclusive and connects people of all backgrounds. Accordingly, we prioritize our corporate responsibility efforts to impact the areas of economic empowerment and sustainable commerce. Key economic programs include eBay for Charity, the eBay Foundation and our small business enablement efforts, such as our Up & Running Grants program.
eBay for Charity empowers buyers and sellers to support charities around the world. In 2023, eBay for Charity matched donations made to the International Rescue Committee, Team Rubicon, World Central Kitchen, Hawaii Community Foundation and American National Red Cross, and partnered with Homes For Our Troops, GiveLove, Deckaid Inc, Direct Relief and Free The Work. In 2023, nearly $162 million was raised by buyers and sellers to support charities via eBay for Charity.
The eBay Foundation helps to build economically vibrant and thriving communities. During 2023, the eBay Foundation granted more than $19 million through strategic grantmaking and our employee gift-matching program, primarily to support historically excluded entrepreneurs. To date, the eBay Foundation has awarded more than $120 million to more than 1,800 nonprofits.
Recommerce has been an integral part of eBay’s purpose since the Company was founded in 1995. As a pioneer of the circular economy, eBay has created an online space where people can buy and sell pre-owned goods. This helps preserve the world’s natural resources by avoiding a portion of the carbon emissions, water, energy and waste typically used in producing new goods.
eBay has continued to work towards its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy in its operations and data centers by 2025. We have also set Science Based Targets for all three scopes of our emissions. We have set a goal to reduce our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 90% by 2030 from a 2019 base year and to reduce value chain (scope 3) emissions from downstream transportation and distribution by 20% in the same timeframe, and we believe we are on track to achieve that goal. In 2023, eBay was ranked in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership National Top 100 and Top 30 Tech & Telecom for the fourth year. In 2023, eBay was also recognized for its commitment to sustainability and responsible business by its inclusion in the Dow Jones
Sustainability World and North American Indices for the fifth straight year. In 2023, eBay also scored an A- on the CDP Climate Change questionnaire.
Financial Information
We measure our footprint in our addressable market according to GMV. GMV consists of the total value of all paid transactions between users on our Marketplace platforms during the applicable period inclusive of shipping fees and taxes. In 2023, we generated $73 billion in GMV, of which approximately 52 percent was generated outside the United States. We believe that GMV provides a useful measure of the overall volume of paid transactions that flow through our Marketplace platforms in a given period.
At the end of 2023, eBay had 132 million active buyers and approximately 2.0 billion live listings globally. The term “active buyer” means, as of any date, all buyer accounts that paid for a transaction on our Marketplace platforms within the previous 12-month period. Buyers may register more than once and, as a result, may have more than one account.
We generate revenue primarily through fees collected on paid sales, inclusive of payment processing and first-party advertising. The majority of our revenue comes from a take rate on the GMV of transactions paid on our Marketplace platforms. We define “take rate” as net revenues divided by GMV.
Our Marketplace platforms are designed to enable our buyers and sellers to leverage our economies of scale and capital investments in sales and marketing, mobile, customer acquisition, technology innovation and customer service.
Competition
We encounter vigorous competition in our business from numerous sources. Our users can list, sell, buy, and pay for similar items through a variety of competing online, mobile and offline channels. These include, but are not limited to, retailers, distributors, liquidators, import and export companies, auctioneers, catalog and mail-order companies, directories, search engines, commerce participants (consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business), shopping channels and networks. As our product offerings continue to broaden into new categories of items and new commerce formats, we expect to face additional competition from other online, mobile and offline channels for those new offerings. We compete on the basis of price, product selection and services, and global scale.
For more information regarding competitive factors impacting our business, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the captions “Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in ecommerce may harm our business” and “We could be subject to regulatory or agency investigations and/or court proceedings under unfair competition laws that could adversely impact our business.”
Government Regulation
Government regulation impacts key aspects of our business. In particular, we are subject to laws and regulations that affect the ecommerce industry in many countries where we operate.
Our business is subject to payments reporting requirements for U.S. sellers as a result of federal legislation. During 2021, legislation was passed requiring all businesses that process payments to issue a Form 1099-K for all sellers who receive more than $600 in gross payments in a year, a decrease from the previous reporting threshold of $20,000 and 200 transactions. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently announced a second one-year delay of this rule. As a result, Form 1099-Ks for the $600 threshold will be issued beginning in January 2025 for 2024 transactions, subject to potential new federal legislation raising the threshold and/or future IRS action. Tax collection responsibility and the additional costs associated with complex sales and use tax collection, remittance and audit requirements, or reporting, could create additional burdens for buyers and sellers on our websites and mobile platforms.
The EU Digital Services Act (the “DSA”) will begin to be enforced for all online platforms as of mid-February 2024. The DSA imposes legal obligations on online marketplaces operating in Europe, requiring them to verify and ensure the accuracy and disclosure of required information, as well as the safety and authenticity of products posted by third-party merchants. The DSA also enforces new content moderation obligations, notice obligations,
advertising restrictions and other requirements on digital platforms that will create additional operational burdens and compliance costs for us. Additionally, on October 26, 2023, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act (the “Act”) became law. The Act creates requirements around monitoring and handling harmful content and may require us to expend resources to comply with the new regulations.
For more information regarding regulatory risks, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the caption “Our business is subject to extensive and increasing government regulation and oversight, which could adversely impact our business” and “Our business and our sellers and buyers may be subject to evolving sales and other tax regimes in various jurisdictions, which may harm our business.”
Seasonality
We expect transaction activity patterns on our Marketplace platforms to mirror general consumer buying patterns. Please see the additional information in “Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under the caption “Seasonality.”
Technology
The eBay Marketplace uses a combination of proprietary technologies and services as well as technologies and services provided by others. We have developed intuitive user interfaces; buyer, seller and developer tools; and transaction processing, database and network applications that help enable our users to reliably and securely complete transactions on our sites. Our technology infrastructure simplifies the storage and processing of large amounts of data, eases the deployment and operation of large-scale global products and services and automates much of the administration of large-scale clusters of computers. Our infrastructure has been designed around industry-standard architectures to reduce downtime in the event of outages or catastrophic occurrences.
In support of our commitment to innovation and a better customer experience, we have been on a multi-year evolution to modernize our Marketplace. Through technologies like AI, including generative AI (“GAI”), we are anticipating the needs of buyers, sellers and developers, empowering entrepreneurs looking to grow their business, and making the platform more accessible to everyone. We aim to create highly personalized and inspiring shopping experiences powered by advanced technologies.
For information regarding technology-related risks, see the information in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the captions “Our business is subject to online security risks, including security breaches and cyberattacks,” “Systems failures and resulting interruptions in the availability of or degradation in the performance of our websites, applications, products or services could harm our business” and “New laws and increasing levels of regulation in the areas of privacy and protection of user data could harm our business.”
Intellectual Property
We regard the protection of our intellectual property, including our trademarks (particularly those covering the eBay name), patents, copyrights, domain names, trade dress and trade secrets as critical to our success. We aggressively protect our intellectual property rights by relying on federal, state and common law rights in the United States and internationally, as well as a variety of administrative procedures. We also rely on contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary rights in products and services. We routinely enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors and nondisclosure agreements with parties with whom we conduct business to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information.
We routinely pursue registration of our domain names, trademarks and patents in the United States and internationally. Additionally, we have filed U.S. and international patent applications covering certain aspects of our proprietary technology. Effective trademark, copyright, patent, domain name, trade dress and trade secret protection is typically expensive to maintain and may require litigation. We must protect our intellectual property rights and other proprietary rights in an increasing number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and time consuming and may not be successful.
We have registered our core brands as trademarks and domain names in the United States and internationally and have in place an active program to continue to secure trademarks and domain names that correspond to our brands in markets of interest. If we are unable to register or protect our trademarks or domain names, we could be adversely affected in any jurisdiction in which our trademarks or domain names are not
registered or protected. We have licensed in the past, and expect to license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks, to others.
From time to time, third parties have claimed - and others will likely claim in the future - that we have infringed their intellectual property rights. We are typically involved in a number of such legal proceedings at any time. Please see the information in “Item 3: Legal Proceedings” and in “Item 1A: Risk Factors” under the captions “The listing or sale by our users of certain items, including items that allegedly infringe the intellectual property rights of rights owners, including pirated or counterfeit items, illegal items or items used in an illegal manner, may harm our business,” and “We may be unable to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights and face ongoing allegations by third parties that we are infringing their intellectual property rights.”
Human Capital Management
As of December 31, 2023, we employed approximately 12,300 people globally. Approximately 7,500 of our employees were located in the United States. eBay has robust people-focused programs to attract, support and retain our employees globally. Our recruitment, development, compensation and benefits, wellness, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs are designed to reflect our values, ensure eBay’s competitiveness in the talent market and ensure we support our employees’ well-being. eBay’s management is focused on delivering programs that develop and support our people and connect them with our customers, our community, and each other. Given the importance of eBay’s employees to our overall success, since 2022, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors has been responsible for oversight of our human capital management strategy and practices, including activities such as talent recruitment, development and retention, employee engagement, succession planning, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Culture
eBay’s purpose to connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all continues to serve as the backbone of our culture. We bring this purpose to life through five core beliefs that eBayers embody in their day-to-day work. Our Beliefs are:
•Empower our community
•Innovate boldly
•Deliver with impact
•Be for everyone
•Act with integrity
Evolving How We Work
When eBay reopened its offices around the globe we introduced FlexWork, giving employees the opportunity to work in one of three models: onsite, remote, or hybrid. We believe FlexWork provides us the flexibility to attract and hire the right talent and we leverage tools to keep our workforce connected. We are focused on striking the right balance between in-person and remote work as we aim for individual productivity and overall team success. Enhanced in-person collaboration is creating a more dynamic and engaging culture that unlocks innovation and drives better decision making. For employees who are in the office more often, we have maintained programs, such as back-up in-home child and adult care, to support families and caregivers.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DE&I”) remains a priority for eBay. As a global marketplace bringing together millions of sellers and buyers across more than 190 markets around the world, our purpose is to connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all. In our workplace, we bring the best talent from different communities together to learn, grow, thrive and innovate.
Our four DE&I objectives are increasing representation, cultivating a sense of belonging, engaging our communities and allies, and building inclusive technology. Our Communities of Inclusion (“COI”) are the cornerstone of our DE&I efforts and help, welcome and connect eBay employees of many backgrounds and identities from around the world. Through innovative experiential events, and meaningful discussions and connections, our COI aim to encourage growth and create an open, safe and welcoming place for everyone.
Equity remains at the forefront of our efforts to hire, develop, and retain top talent, enhance corporate performance, and foster a welcoming and inclusive company. We have continued to enhance our people and business processes, leveraging data insights, and providing ongoing learning and development opportunities to employees. We have also continued to enhance our internal governance model to ensure a shared accountability around DE&I throughout the organization.
Well-Being Support for Employees and Their Families
We have continually engaged with our people to support their physical, financial, and mental well-being for them and their families through expanded wellness resources. As part of these efforts, we have continued our focus on ensuring our employees and their families have access to high quality care. In 2023, we introduced a new medical plan in the United States focused on affordability and quality and expanded access to telehealth services. In 2023, we also hosted a global well-being challenge and continued mental health first aid training for managers and peers to help manage burnout. We continually look for ways to enhance the support we provide to employees and improve the effectiveness of our benefit programs.
In addition to competitive pay and benefits, eBay offers additional parental time off beyond what is required by law in the United States and in most countries where we operate. This benefit is offered for parents welcoming a new child into the family whether by giving birth, adopting or welcoming a child through surrogacy. We have also expanded support to employees by enhancing bereavement leave and adding an emergency paid leave program. This is an important demonstration of how eBay seeks to support its employees and their family in moments that matter.
Acting with Integrity
We are committed to ethics and acting with integrity. We regularly communicate about the importance of being open, honest, ethical and authentic with ongoing trainings and quarterly “tone from the top” topics that encourage conversations between leaders with their employees. In addition, we host an annual Ethics and Compliance Week focused on educating employees about our programs and the resources available to them to support ethical conduct and decision making.
Employee Voice & Values
In addition to multiple channels for sharing feedback, we also regularly survey our employees through our eBay Listens program. We ask about trust and engagement, their experience with diversity, equity and inclusion, ethics and integrity, and last year we asked for upward feedback about managers. We believe our employees welcome sharing their points of view with us and are encouraged by how their input molds several strategic programs and our values, including our commitments in critical areas such as Impact and Responsibility.
Available Information
Our Internet address is www.ebay.com. Our investor relations website is located at investors.ebayinc.com. We make available free of charge on our investor relations website under the heading “Financial Information - SEC Filings” our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with (or furnished to) the SEC at www.sec.gov.
We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment community on our investor relations website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events, press and earnings releases, and blogs on our investor relations website, as well as our company website and social media channels from time to time. Company sustainability information for investors is available on our investor relations website under the heading “ESG Investors.” Corporate governance information, including our governance guidelines for our Board of Directors (“Board”), Board committee charters and code of conduct, is also available on our investor relations website under the heading “Corporate Governance.”
The contents of our websites and webcasts and information that can be accessed through our websites and webcasts are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or
document we file with (or furnish to) the SEC, and any references to our websites and webcasts are intended to be inactive textual references only.

---

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A: RISK FACTORS
Risk Factors Summary:
The summary of risks below provides an overview of the principal risks we are exposed to in the normal course of our business activities:
•Our operating and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our common stock and debt securities.
•Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in ecommerce may harm our business.
•We are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which could negatively impact our financial results.
•Our international operations and engagement in cross-border trade are subject to risks, which could harm our business.
•Our business may be adversely affected by geopolitical events, natural disasters, seasonal factors and other factors that cause our users to spend less time, or transact less, on our websites or mobile platforms and applications, including increased usage of other websites.
•If we cannot keep pace with rapid technological developments or continue to innovate and create new initiatives to provide new programs, products and services, the use of our products and our revenues could decline.
•Changes to our programs to protect buyers and sellers could increase our costs and loss rate, and failure to manage such programs effectively can result in harm to our reputation.
•Operations and continued development of our payments system and financial services offerings require ongoing investment, are subject to evolving laws, regulations, rules, and standards, and involve risk, including risks related to our dependence on third-party providers.
•We may be unable to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights and face ongoing allegations by third parties that we are infringing their intellectual property rights.
•Failure to deal effectively with fraudulent activities on our platforms would increase our loss rate and harm our business, and could severely diminish merchant and consumer confidence in and use of our services.
•Our business is subject to online security risks, including security breaches and cyberattacks.
•Systems failures and resulting interruptions in the availability of or degradation in the performance of our websites, applications, products or services could harm our business.
•Our success largely depends on key employees. Because competition for key employees is intense, we may not be able to attract, retain, and develop the highly skilled employees we need to support our business. The loss of senior management or other key employees could harm our business.
•Problems with or price increases by third parties who provide services to us or to our sellers could harm our business.
•Our business is subject to extensive and increasing government regulation and oversight, which could adversely impact our business.
•New laws and increasing levels of regulation in the areas of privacy and protection of user data could harm our business.
•Other laws and regulations could harm our business.
•Our disclosures and stakeholder expectations related to environmental, social and governance matters may impose additional costs and expose us to new risks.
•We are regularly subject to litigation and regulatory and government inquiries, investigations and disputes, as our business evolves and as governments and regulators seek to extend new and existing laws to reach our business model.
•We could be subject to regulatory or agency investigations and/or court proceedings under unfair competition laws that could adversely impact our business.
•The listing or sale by our users of certain items, including items that allegedly infringe the intellectual property rights of rights owners, including pirated or counterfeit items, illegal items or items used in an illegal manner, may harm our business.
•We are subject to risks associated with information disseminated through our services.
•Fluctuations in interest rates, and changes in regulatory guidance related to such interest rates, could adversely impact our financial results.
•We have substantial indebtedness, and we may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, and we may not generate sufficient cash flow from our business to service our indebtedness. Failure to comply
with the terms of our indebtedness could result in the acceleration of our indebtedness, which could have an adverse effect on our cash flow and liquidity.
•Our business and our sellers and buyers may be subject to evolving sales and other tax regimes in various jurisdictions, which may harm our business.
•We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities.
•Acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships and strategic investments could result in operating difficulties and could harm our business or impact our financial results.
•We could incur significant liability if the Distribution of PayPal is determined to be a taxable transaction.
•We may be exposed to claims and liabilities as a result of the Distribution.
Risk Factors:
You should carefully review the following discussion of the risks that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and the other information appearing in this report, for important information regarding risks that affect us. Current global economic events and conditions as well as evolving regulatory scrutiny may amplify many of these risks. These risks are not the only risks that may affect us. Additional risks that we are not aware of or do not believe are material at the time of this filing may also become important factors that adversely affect our business.
Business, Economic, Market and Operating Risks
Our operating and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our common stock and debt securities.
Our operating and financial results have varied on a quarterly basis during our operating history and may continue to fluctuate significantly as a result of a variety of factors, including the following risks and other risks set forth in this “Risk Factors” section:
•our ability to convert visits into sales for our sellers;
•the amount and timing of expenses;
•our success in attracting and retaining sellers and buyers;
•changes in consumer discretionary spending trends, including shifts in interests away from any of our major categories;
•our success in executing on our strategy and the impact of any changes in our strategy;
•the timing and success of product launches, including new services and features we may introduce;
•the success of our marketing efforts; and
•the impact of competitive and industry developments, including changes in the legal and regulatory landscape, and our response to those developments.
In view of the rapidly evolving nature of our business, period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful, and you should not rely upon them as an indication of future performance. It is difficult for us to forecast the level or source of our revenues or earnings (loss) accurately, particularly given that substantially all of our net revenues each quarter come from transactions involving sales during that quarter. Due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting revenues, it is also difficult to forecast expenses as a percentage of net revenues. Quarterly and annual expenses as a percentage of net revenues reflected in our consolidated financial statements may be significantly different from historical or projected percentages. Because our business model is dependent upon consumer spending, our results of operations are sensitive to changes in or uncertainty about macro-economic conditions. Our buyers may in the future have less capacity for discretionary purchases and may reduce their purchases from our sellers as a result of various factors, including job losses, inflation (such as recent inflationary pressure), higher taxes, reduced access to credit, changes in federal economic policy, public health issues such as a pandemic, recent global economic uncertainty, lower consumer confidence and demand for discretionary goods, and geopolitical events such as recent international trade disputes and the ongoing wars in Ukraine and in Israel and Gaza, including the related disruptions to international shipping in the Red Sea.
Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in ecommerce may harm our business.
The businesses and markets in which we operate are intensely competitive. We currently and potentially compete with a wide variety of online and offline companies providing goods and services to consumers and merchants, a number of which have significant resources, large user communities and well-established brands. The Internet and mobile networks provide new, rapidly evolving and intensely competitive channels for the sale of all types of goods and services. We compete in two-sided markets, and we must attract both buyers and sellers to use our platforms. Consumers who purchase or sell goods and services through us have more and more alternatives, and merchants have more channels to reach consumers. We expect competition to continue to intensify. The barriers to entry into these channels can be low, and businesses can easily launch online sites or mobile platforms and applications at nominal cost by using commercially available software or partnering with any of a number of successful ecommerce, search, advertising or social companies. As we respond to changes in the competitive environment, we may, from time to time, make pricing, service, policy or marketing decisions or acquisitions that
may be controversial with and lead to dissatisfaction among sellers or buyers, which could reduce activity on our platform and harm our reputation and profitability.
We face increased competitive pressure online and offline. In particular, the competitive norm for, and the expected level of service from, ecommerce and mobile commerce has significantly increased due to, among other factors, improved user experience, greater ease of buying goods, lower (or no) shipping costs, faster shipping times and more favorable return policies. In addition, certain platform businesses, such as Alibaba, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple and Meta (Facebook and Instagram), many of which are larger than us or have greater capitalization, have a dominant and secure position in other industries or certain significant markets, and offer other goods and services to consumers and merchants that we do not offer. If we are unable to change our products, offerings and services in ways that reflect the changing demands of ecommerce and mobile commerce marketplaces, including if sellers on our platforms are unable to source items or we are unable to provide higher service levels (some of which depend on services provided by sellers on our platforms) in line with consumer expectations, or if we are unable to compete effectively with and adapt to changes in larger platform businesses, our business and reputation will suffer.
Competitors with other revenue sources or greater resources may also be able to devote more resources to marketing and promotional campaigns and buyer acquisition, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and devote more resources to website, mobile platforms and applications and systems development than we can. Other competitors may offer or continue to offer faster and/or free shipping, delivery on Sunday, same-day delivery, more favorable return policies or other transaction-related services which improve the user experience on their sites and which could be impractical or inefficient for our sellers to match. Competitors may be more narrowly focused on particular types of goods and create compelling communities and be able to innovate faster and more efficiently, and new technologies may increase these competitive pressures by enabling competitors to offer more efficient or lower-cost services.
Some of our competitors control other products and services that are important to our success, including payment processing, Internet search, shipping and delivery resources, and mobile operating systems. Such competitors could manipulate pricing, availability, terms or operation of service related to their products and services in a manner that impacts our competitive offerings. For example, Alphabet, which operates a shopping platform service, has from time to time made changes to its search algorithms that have reduced the amount of search traffic directed to us from searches on Google. If we are unable to use or adapt to operational changes in such services, we may face higher costs for such services, face integration or technological barriers or lose customers, which could cause our business to suffer.
Consumers who might use our sites to buy goods have a wide variety of alternatives, including traditional department, warehouse, boutique, discount and general merchandise stores (as well as the online and mobile operations of these traditional retailers), online retailers and their related mobile offerings, online and offline aggregation and classified services, social media platforms and other shopping channels, such as offline and online home shopping networks. In the United States, these include, but are not limited to, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Etsy, Shopify, Wayfair, Temu, Shein, and Rakuten, among others. In addition, consumers have a large number of online and offline channels focused on one or more of the categories of products offered on our sites, including but not limited to, Vinted, StockX, TheRealReal, Back Market, Chrono24, Fanatics, Farfetch, RockAuto, and GOAT Group, among others.
Consumers also can turn to many companies that offer a variety of services that provide other channels for buyers to find and buy items from sellers of all sizes, including social media, online aggregation and classifieds platforms, such as websites operated by Adevinta or Naspers Limited and others such as craigslist, Oodle.com and Meta. Consumers also can turn to shopping-comparison sites, such as Google Shopping, or social networks that enable purchases such as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. In certain markets, our fixed-price listing and traditional auction-style listing formats increasingly are being challenged by other formats, such as classifieds. We use product search engines and paid search advertising to help users find our sites, but these services also have the potential to divert users to other online shopping destinations. Consumers may choose to search for products and services with a horizontal search engine or shopping comparison website, and such sites may also send users to other shopping destinations. In addition, sellers are increasingly utilizing multiple sales channels, including the acquisition of new customers by paying for search-related advertisements on horizontal search engine sites, such as Google, Naver and Baidu.
Consumers and merchants who might use our sites to sell goods also have many alternatives, including general ecommerce sites, such as Amazon, Alibaba, and Zalando, and more specialized sites, such as Etsy. Our international sites also compete for sellers with general and specialized ecommerce sites. Sellers may also choose to sell their goods through other channels, such as multi-channel services like Shopify or classifieds platforms. Consumers and merchants also can create and sell through their own sites, and may choose to purchase online advertising instead of using our services. In some countries, there are online sites that have larger customer bases and greater brand recognition, as well as competitors that may have a better understanding of local culture and commerce. We may increasingly compete with local competitors in developing countries that have these or other unique advantages, such as a greater ability to operate under local regulatory authorities.
We generate a meaningful amount of our revenue from our Promoted Listings (a first-party advertising offering) and, to a lesser extent, third-party advertising. To sustain or increase our advertising revenue, we must continue to provide customers with compelling advertising products to maintain or increase the amount of advertising purchased through our platform. If we are unable to compete effectively for advertising spend, our business and operating results could be harmed.
In addition, certain manufacturers or brands may seek to limit or cease distribution of their products through online channels, such as our sites. Manufacturers may attempt to use contractual obligations or existing or future government regulation to prohibit or limit ecommerce in certain categories of goods or services. Manufacturers may also attempt to enforce minimum resale price maintenance or minimum advertised price arrangements to prevent distributors from selling on our platforms or on the Internet generally, or drive distributors to sell at prices that would make us less attractive relative to other alternatives. The adoption of those or other policies could adversely affect our results of operations and result in loss of market share and diminished value of our brands.
The principal competitive factors for us include the following:
•ability to attract, retain and engage buyers and sellers;
•volume of transactions and price and selection of goods;
•trust in the seller and the transaction;
•customer service;
•brand recognition;
•community cohesion, interaction and size;
•website, mobile platform and application ease-of-use and accessibility;
•system reliability and security;
•reliability of delivery and payment, including customer preference for fast delivery and free shipping and returns;
•level of service fees; and
•quality of search tools.
We may be unable to compete successfully against current and future competitors. Some current and potential competitors have longer operating histories, larger customer bases and greater brand recognition in other business and Internet sectors than we do.
We are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which could negatively impact our financial results.
Because we generate approximately half of our revenues outside the United States but report our financial results in U.S. dollars, our financial results are impacted by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, or foreign exchange rates. The results of operations of many of our internationally focused platforms are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations as the financial results of the applicable subsidiaries are translated from the local currency into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes.
While from time to time we enter into transactions to hedge portions of our foreign currency translation exposure, it is impossible to predict or eliminate the effects of this exposure. Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates could significantly impact our financial results, which may have a significant impact on the trading price of our common stock and debt securities.
Our international operations and engagement in cross-border trade are subject to risks, which could harm our business.
Our international businesses, especially in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia, and cross-border business from greater China, have generated approximately half of our net revenues in recent years. In addition to uncertainty about our ability to generate revenues from our foreign operations and expand into international markets, there are risks inherent in doing business internationally, including:
•uncertainties and instability in economic and market conditions resulting from inflationary pressures, increasing interest rates and the ongoing wars in Ukraine and in Israel and Gaza, including the related disruptions to international shipping in the Red Sea;
•uncertainties caused by decreasing consumer confidence and demand for discretionary goods;
•expenses associated with localizing our products and services and customer data, including offering customers the ability to transact business in the local currency and adapting our products and services to local preferences (e.g., payment methods) with which we may have limited or no experience;
•economic and trade sanctions, trade barriers and changes in trade regulations;
•difficulties in developing, staffing, and simultaneously managing a large number of varying foreign operations as a result of distance, language, and cultural differences;
•stringent local labor laws and regulations;
•credit risk and higher levels of payment fraud;
•profit repatriation restrictions, foreign currency exchange restrictions or extreme fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates for a particular currency;
•global or regional economic conditions that impact companies and customers with which we do business;
•political or social unrest, economic instability, repression, or human rights issues;
•geopolitical events, including natural disasters, public health issues (including pandemics), acts of war (such as the ongoing wars in Ukraine and in Israel and Gaza), and terrorism;
•supply chain disruptions including the ongoing disruptions to international shipping in the Red Sea;
•import or export regulations, including the complexities of seller compliance with “de minimis thresholds” and other parallel regulations across the broad range of categories and products offered on our platforms;
•compliance with U.S. laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and foreign laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials, as well as U.S. and foreign laws designed to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities;
•antitrust and competition regulations;
•potentially adverse tax developments and consequences;
•economic uncertainties relating to sovereign and other debt;
•different, uncertain, or more stringent user protection, data protection, data localization, privacy, and other data and consumer protection laws;
•risks related to other government regulation or required compliance with local laws;
•national or regional differences in macroeconomic growth rates;
•payment intermediation regulations;
•local licensing and reporting obligations; and
•increased difficulties in collecting accounts receivable.
Violations of the complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations may result in fines, criminal actions, or sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees; prohibitions on the conduct of our business; and damage to our reputation. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to promote compliance with these laws, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, or agents will not violate our policies. These risks inherent in our international operations and expansion increase our costs of doing business internationally and could harm our business.
Cross-border trade is an important source of both revenue and profits for us. Cross-border trade also represents our primary (or in some cases, only) presence in certain important markets, such as China, and various other countries. The interpretation and/or application of laws, such as those related to intellectual property rights of authentic products, selective distribution networks, and sellers in other countries listing items on the Internet, could impose restrictions on, or increase the costs of, purchasing, selling, shipping, or returning goods across national borders. The shipping of goods across national borders is often more expensive and complicated than domestic shipping. Changes to customs authorities’ “de minimis” thresholds, as well as increased costs or fees for third party sellers, logistics providers, or online marketplaces associated with changes in customs policy, as well as any other
factors that increase the costs of cross-border trade or restrict, delay, or make cross-border trade more difficult or impractical would lower our revenues and profits and could harm our business.
Our business may be adversely affected by geopolitical events, natural disasters, seasonal factors and other factors that cause our users to spend less time, or transact less, on our websites or mobile platforms and applications, including increased usage of other websites.
Our users may spend less time on our websites and our applications for mobile devices as a result of a variety of diversions and other factors, including: geopolitical events, such as war (including the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel and Gaza, including the related disruptions to international shipping in the Red Sea), the threat of war, social or political unrest, or terrorist activity; natural disasters; the physical effects of climate change (such as drought, flooding, wildfires, increased storm severity and sea level rise); and potential increases in the cost of energy due to climate change; power shortages or outages; major public health issues, including pandemics; less discretionary consumer spending; social networking or other entertainment websites or mobile applications; significant local, national or global events capturing the attention of a large part of the population; and seasonal fluctuations due to a variety of factors. If any of these, or any other factors, divert or otherwise prevent our users from using or transacting on our websites or mobile applications, our business could be materially adversely affected.
In 2023, we experienced reduced traffic in most markets resulting from geopolitical events (such as the ongoing war in Ukraine), inflationary pressure, foreign exchange rate volatility, elevated interest rates and lower consumer confidence. These factors are negatively impacting discretionary consumer spending and may continue to do so indefinitely, which could harm our business.
If we cannot keep pace with rapid technological developments or continue to innovate and create new initiatives to provide new programs, products and services, the use of our products and our revenues could decline.
Rapid, significant technological changes continue to confront the industries in which we operate and we cannot predict the effect of technological changes on our business. We also continuously strive to create new initiatives and innovations that promote growth, such as our payments and advertising offerings and other features that enhance the customer experience. We are also increasingly leveraging AI technologies, including GAI, in our products and services and are making investments to expand our use of GAI capabilities. In addition to our own initiatives and innovations, we rely in part on third parties, including some of our competitors, for the development of and access to new technologies, including GAI tools. We expect that new services and technologies applicable to the industries in which we operate will continue to emerge. These new services and technologies may be superior to, or render obsolete, the technologies we currently use in our products and services. Incorporating new technologies into our products and services may require substantial expenditures and take considerable time, and ultimately may not be successful. For example, GAI is a new and rapidly developing technology in its early stages of commercial use and presents certain inherent risks. GAI algorithms are based on machine learning and predictive analytics, which can create unintended biases and discriminatory outcomes, and outputs can be completely fabricated or false (e.g., GAI hallucinatory behavior) or contain copyrighted or other protected material. There is a risk that our algorithms could produce such outcomes or other unexpected results or behaviors that could harm our reputation, business, or buyers and sellers. In addition, our ability to adopt new services and develop new technologies may be inhibited by industry-wide standards, new laws and regulations, resistance to change from our users, clients or merchants, or third parties’ intellectual property rights. In particular, the AI regulatory landscape is still uncertain and evolving, and the development and use of AI technologies, including GAI, in new or existing products may result in new or enhanced governmental or regulatory activity and scrutiny, litigation, ethical concerns or other complications that could be costly and time-consuming and could adversely affect our business, reputation or financial results. Our future success will depend on our ability to develop new technologies and adapt to technological changes and evolving industry standards.
Changes to our programs to protect buyers and sellers could increase our costs and loss rate, and failure to manage such programs effectively can result in harm to our reputation.
Our eBay Money Back Guarantee program represents the means by which we compensate users who believe that they have been defrauded, have not received the item that they purchased or have received an item different from what was described. We expect to continue to receive communications from users requesting reimbursement or threatening or commencing legal action against us if no reimbursement is made. Litigation, legislation, or regulation involving liability for any such third-party actions could result in increased costs of doing business, lead to adverse judgments or settlements or otherwise harm our business. In addition, affected users will likely complain to regulatory agencies that could take action against us, including imposing fines or seeking injunctions.
Since our recent transition to our payments system, we have also experienced and may continue to experience increased costs from chargebacks on payments, due to instances of forced transaction reversals initiated by buyers through their payment card issuers. These forced transaction reversals can be initiated for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, alleged fraud or seller nonperformance, among others.
Additionally, in order to further strengthen our buyers’ confidence and trust in our services and the goods offered on our Marketplace, we introduced Authenticity Guarantee, an independent authentication service, in 2020 in select categories in the United States and have since expanded this service to more luxury categories and more markets. If we are unable to effectively manage the authentication process, including the third-party service providers on which we rely for much of our item authentication, we may suffer harm to our reputation and may be subject to litigation, which could be costly and time-consuming for us.
Operations and continued development of our payments system and financial services offerings require ongoing investment, are subject to evolving laws, regulations, rules, and standards, and involve risk, including risks related to our dependence on third-party providers.
We have invested and plan to continue to invest internal resources into our payments tools in order to maintain existing availability, expand into additional markets and offer new payment methods and other types of financial services to our buyers and sellers. If we fail to invest adequate resources into payments on our platform, or if our investment efforts are unsuccessful, unreliable or result in system failure, our payments and financial services may not function properly or keep pace with competitive offerings, which could negatively impact their usage and our Marketplace. Future errors, failures or outages could cause our buyers and sellers to lose confidence in our payments system and could cause them to cease using our Marketplace.
If we transition to new third-party payment service providers for any reason, we may be required to invest significant financial and personnel resources to support such transition or could be unable to find a suitable replacement service provider. As we offer new payment methods and financial services to our sellers and buyers, we are now subject to additional regulations and compliance requirements, and exposed to heightened fraud and regulatory risk, which could lead to an increase in our operating expenses.
We rely on third-party service providers to perform services related to compliance among other activities, credit card processing, payment disbursements, currency exchange, identity verification, sanctions screening, and fraud analysis and detection. As a result, we are subject to a number of risks related to our dependence on third-party service providers. If any or some of these service providers fail to perform adequately or if any such service provider were to terminate or modify its relationship with us unexpectedly, our sellers’ ability to use our platform to receive orders or payments could be adversely affected, which would increase costs, drive sellers away from our marketplaces, result in potential legal liability, and harm our business. In addition, we and our third-party service providers may experience service outages from time to time that could adversely impact payments made on our platform. Additionally, any unexpected termination or modification of those third-party services could lead to a lapse in the effectiveness of certain fraud prevention and detection tools.
Our third-party service providers may increase the fees they charge us in the future, which would increase our operating expenses. This could, in turn, require us to increase the fees we charge to sellers and cause some sellers to reduce listings on our Marketplaces or to leave our platform altogether by closing their accounts.
Payments and other financial services are governed by complex and continuously evolving laws and regulations that are subject to change and vary across different jurisdictions in the United States and globally. As a result, we are required to spend significant time and effort to determine whether various licensing and registration laws as well as privacy and secrecy laws relating to payments and other financial services we offer apply to us and to comply with applicable laws and licensing and registration regulations. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain or retain any necessary licenses or registrations. Any failure or claim of failure by us or our third-party service providers to comply with applicable laws and regulations relating to payments or financial services could require us to expend significant resources, result in liabilities, limit or preclude our ability to enter certain markets and harm our reputation. In addition, changes in payment regulations, or other financial regulation, including changes to the credit or debit card interchange rates in the United States or other markets, could adversely affect payments on our platform and make our payments systems less profitable.
Further, we are indirectly subject to payment card association operating rules and certification requirements pursuant to agreements with our third-party payment processors. These rules and requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and rules governing electronic funds transfers, are subject to change or reinterpretation, making it difficult for us to comply. Any failure to comply with these rules and certification requirements could impact our ability to meet our contractual obligations to our third-party payment processors and could result in potential fines. In addition, changes in these rules and requirements, including any change in our designation by major payment card providers, could require a change in our business operations and could result in limitations on or loss of our ability to accept payment cards or other forms of payment, any of which could negatively impact our business. Such changes could also increase our costs of compliance, which could lead to increased fees for us or our sellers and adversely affect payments on our platform or usage of our payments services and Marketplace.
Our payments system is susceptible to illegal uses, including money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and payments to sanctioned parties. If our compliance program and internal controls to limit such illegal activity are ineffective, government authorities could bring legal action against us or otherwise suspend our ability to offer payment services in one or more markets.
We may be unable to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights and face ongoing allegations by third parties that we are infringing their intellectual property rights.
We believe the protection of our intellectual property, including our trademarks, patents, copyrights, domain names, trade dress, and trade secrets, is critical to our success. We seek to protect our intellectual property rights by relying on applicable laws and regulations in the United States and internationally, as well as a variety of administrative procedures. We also rely on contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary rights when offering or procuring products and services, including confidentiality and invention assignment agreements entered into with our employees and contractors and confidentiality agreements with parties with whom we conduct business.
However, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which our products and services are made available, and contractual arrangements and other steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property may not prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating our intellectual property or deter independent development of equivalent or superior intellectual property rights by others. Trademark, copyright, patent, domain name, trade dress and trade secret protections are very expensive to maintain and may require litigation. Patent protection may not be available or obtainable for our proprietary rights, or patent applications may not issue. We must protect our intellectual property rights and other proprietary rights in a significant number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and time consuming and may not be successful in every jurisdiction. Also, we may not be able to discover or determine the extent of any unauthorized use of our proprietary rights. We have licensed in the past, and expect to license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks or copyrighted material, to others. These licensees may take actions that diminish the value of our proprietary rights or harm our reputation. Any failure to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, or significant costs incurred in doing so, could materially harm our business.
Additionally, we have repeatedly been sued for allegedly infringing other parties’ patents. We are a defendant in various patent suits and have been notified of several other potential patent disputes.
As the number of intellectual property owners and products in the software industry increases and the functionality of these products further overlaps, and as we acquire technology through acquisitions or licenses, we
may become increasingly subject to patent suits and other infringement claims, including copyright, and trademark infringement claims. For example, the intellectual property ownership and license rights surrounding AI technologies, including GAI, have not been fully addressed by U.S. courts or by U.S. or international laws or regulations, and the use or adoption of third-party GAI technologies into our products and services may result in exposure to claims of intellectual property infringement or misappropriation, which could harm our business and financial results. These or other intellectual property claims may be brought directly against us and/or against our customers whom we may indemnify either because we are contractually obligated to or because we choose to do so as a business matter. Such claims, whether or not meritorious, may be time-consuming and costly to defend and resolve, and could require us to make expensive changes in our methods of doing business, enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements, cease conducting certain operations, make substantial payments to satisfy adverse judgments or settle claims, any of which could harm our business.
Failure to deal effectively with fraudulent activities on our platforms would increase our loss rate and harm our business, and could severely diminish merchant and consumer confidence in and use of our services.
We face reputational and other risks with respect to fraudulent activities on our platforms and periodically receive complaints from buyers and sellers who may not have received the goods that they had contracted to purchase or payment for the goods that a buyer had contracted to purchase. In some European and Asian jurisdictions, buyers may also have the right to withdraw from a sale made by a professional seller within a specified time period. While we can, in some cases, suspend the accounts of users who fail to fulfill their payment or delivery obligations to other users, we do not have the ability to require users to make payment or deliver goods, or otherwise make users whole other than through our protection programs. Although we have implemented measures to detect and reduce the occurrence of fraudulent activities, combat bad buyer experiences and increase buyer satisfaction, including evaluating sellers on the basis of their identity and transaction history and restricting or suspending their activity, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective in combating fraudulent transactions or improving overall satisfaction among sellers, buyers, and other participants. If these measures fail to address fraud effectively, buyers and sellers could lose trust in our Marketplace, and our reputation and results of operations could suffer as a result. Additional measures to address fraud could negatively affect the attractiveness of our services to buyers or sellers, resulting in a reduction in the ability to attract new users or retain current users, damage to our reputation, or a diminution in the value of our brand names.
Our business is subject to online security risks, including security breaches and cyberattacks.
Our businesses involve the storage and transmission of users’ personal data, including financial information. In addition, a significant number of our users authorize us to bill their payment card accounts directly for all transactions and other fees charged by us or, in certain cases, third-party service providers utilized in our payment services. An increasing number of websites, including those owned by several other large Internet and offline companies, have disclosed breaches of their security, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks on portions of their websites or infrastructure. Our information technology and infrastructure have at times been, and may in the future be, vulnerable to cyberattacks (including ransomware attacks) or security incidents and third parties may be able to access our users’ proprietary information and payment card data that are stored on or accessible through our systems. Any security breach at a company providing services to us or our users could have similar effects. Our use of GAI tools could also result in a greater likelihood of cybersecurity incidents, privacy violations and inadvertent disclosures of our intellectual property or other confidential information, any of which could either directly or indirectly harm our business, operations and reputation. Further, if employees fail to comply with internal security policies and practices, this may present the risk of improper access, use or disclosure of data.
We may also need to expend significant additional resources to protect against security breaches or to redress problems caused by breaches. The increasing sophistication of attacks and regulatory requirements could require us to fundamentally change our business activities and practices to mitigate and/or respond to security vulnerabilities. Additionally, while we maintain insurance policies to protect against potential losses caused by security breaches, these policies may not be adequate to reimburse us for such losses, and we may not be able to fully collect, if at all, under these policies.
Systems failures and resulting interruptions in the availability of or degradation in the performance of our websites, applications, products or services could harm our business.
Our systems may experience service interruptions or degradation due to hardware and software defects or malfunctions, computer denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, sustained drought, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, computer viruses, or other events. Our systems are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism. Some of our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities.
We have experienced and will likely continue to experience system failures, denial-of-service attacks, human error and other events or conditions from time to time that interrupt the availability or reduce the speed or functionality of our websites and mobile applications, including our payments services. These events have resulted and likely will result in loss of revenue. In addition, our use of AI involves significant technical complexity and requires specialized expertise. Any disruption or failure in our AI systems or infrastructure, or those of our third-party providers, could result in delays or errors in our operations, which could harm our business and financial results. A prolonged interruption in the availability or reduction in the speed or other functionality of our websites and mobile applications or payments services could materially harm our business. Frequent or persistent interruptions in our services could cause current or potential users to believe that our systems are unreliable, leading them to switch to our competitors or to avoid our sites, and could permanently harm our reputation and brands. Moreover, to the extent that any system failure or similar event results in damages to our customers or their businesses, these customers could seek significant compensation from us for their losses and those claims, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming and costly for us to address. We also rely on facilities, components and services supplied by third parties and our business may be materially adversely affected to the extent these components or services do not meet our expectations or these third parties cease to provide the services or facilities. In particular, a decision by any of our third party hosting providers to close a facility that we use could cause system interruptions and delays, result in loss of critical data and cause lengthy interruptions in our services. While we carry business interruption insurance, it may not be sufficient to compensate us for losses that may result from interruptions in our service as a result of systems failures and similar events.
Our success largely depends on key employees. Because competition for key employees is intense, we may not be able to attract, retain, and develop the highly skilled employees we need to support our business. The loss of senior management or other key employees could harm our business.
Our future performance depends substantially on the continued services of our senior management and other key employees, including highly skilled engineers and product developers, and our ability to attract, retain, and motivate them. Competition for highly skilled individuals is intense, especially in the Silicon Valley where our corporate headquarters are located, and we may be unable to successfully attract, integrate or retain sufficiently qualified employees. In making employment decisions, particularly in the Internet and high-technology industries, employees often consider the value of their total compensation, including share-based awards such as restricted stock units, that they could receive in connection with their employment. In addition, our employee hiring and retention also depend on our ability to build and maintain a diverse, welcoming and inclusive workplace. If our share-based or other compensation programs cease to be viewed as competitive, including due to fluctuations in our stock price, or our workplace is not viewed as diverse, welcoming and inclusive, our ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees could be weakened, which could harm our business. We do not have long-term employment agreements with any of our key employees and do not maintain any “key person” life insurance policies. The loss of the services of any of our senior management or other key employees, or our inability to attract highly qualified senior management and other key employees, could harm our business. Our business is primarily non-unionized, but we have some works councils outside the United States and have seen some unionization amongst the employees of one of our subsidiaries in the United States. The unionization or related activism of significant employee populations, including in the United States, could result in higher costs and other operational changes necessary to respond to changing conditions and to establish new relationships with worker representatives.
In addition, in January 2024, we announced a restructuring plan that includes a reduction of our workforce by approximately 1,000 employees, or 9%. Our restructuring plan, and any future restructuring plans, reductions in force or other cost-cutting measures, could divert management attention, adversely affect employee morale and turnover, and damage our reputation as an employer, which could increase the difficulty of attracting, retaining and motivating qualified personnel and maintaining our corporate culture. Further, our reduced headcount following our restructuring plan and any further turnover may increase the difficulty of executing on our plans, including due to the
loss of historical, technical or other expertise, which may have an adverse effect on our business, prospects and results of operations.
Problems with or price increases by third parties who provide services to us or to our sellers could harm our business.
A number of third parties provide services to us or to our sellers. Such services include seller tools that automate and manage listings, merchant tools that manage listings and interface with inventory management software, storefronts that help our sellers list items, shipping providers that deliver goods sold on our platform, managed payments intermediation, item authentication services, and services that we leverage for using and developing AI technologies (including GAI), among others. Financial or regulatory issues, labor issues (e.g., strikes, lockouts, worker shortages or work stoppages), or other problems that prevent these companies from providing services to us or our sellers could harm our business.
Price increases by, or service terminations, disruptions or interruptions at, companies that provide services to us and our sellers and clients could also reduce the number of listings on our platforms or make it more difficult for our sellers to complete transactions, thereby harming our business. In addition, shipping and postal rate increases may reduce the competitiveness of certain sellers’ offerings, and postal service changes and disruptions could require certain sellers to utilize alternatives which could be more expensive or inconvenient, which could in turn decrease the number of transactions on our sites, thereby harming our business.
We have outsourced certain functions to third-party providers, including some customer support, managed payments, product development functions and much of our item authentication service, which are critical to our operations. If our service providers do not perform satisfactorily, our operations could be disrupted, which could result in user dissatisfaction and could harm our business.
Third parties who provide services directly to us or our sellers may not continue to do so on acceptable terms, or at all. If any third parties were to stop providing services to us or our sellers on acceptable terms, including as a result of bankruptcy, we may be unable to procure alternatives from other third parties in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms, or at all.
Regulatory and Legal Risks
Our business is subject to extensive and increasing government regulation and oversight, which could adversely impact our business.
We are subject to laws and regulations affecting our domestic and international operations in a number of areas, including consumer protection, data privacy requirements, responsible AI requirements, intellectual property ownership and infringement, prohibited items and stolen goods, tax, antitrust and anti-competition, import and export requirements and restrictions, anti-corruption, labor, advertising, digital content, real estate, payments and financial services, billing, ecommerce/marketplace or online platform liability, promotions, quality of services, telecommunications, mobile communications and media, environmental, packaging and waste, and health and safety regulations, as well as laws and regulations intended to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. In addition, we are, or may become, subject to further regulation in some of the above-mentioned areas or new areas as a result of the continued development and expansion of our payments capabilities. Further, certain government agencies have sought, or continue to seek, to hold us liable for third party sales on our Marketplace platforms to the extent such sales implicate laws and regulations enforced by those agencies, including specifically the Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (the “DEA”), as described more fully under “Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies - Litigation and Other Legal Matters,” as well as the Office for Product Safety and Standards in the United Kingdom (the “OPSS”), which seeks to hold us liable for third-party sales under the General Product Safety Regulations, which is the subject of ongoing litigation.
Compliance with these laws, regulations, and similar requirements may be onerous and expensive, and variances and inconsistencies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction may further increase the cost of compliance and doing business. Any such costs, which may rise in the future as a result of changes in these laws and regulations or in their interpretation, could individually or in the aggregate make our products and services less attractive to our customers, delay the introduction of new products or services in one or more regions, or cause us to change or limit our business practices. We have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with
applicable laws and regulations, but there can be no assurance that our customers, employees, contractors, or agents will not violate such laws and regulations or our policies and procedures. If we are held liable for any such violations, including relating to actions by third parties using our Marketplace platforms, we could be subject to monetary penalties, which depending on the matter could be material to us. Furthermore, our reputation could suffer harm as a result of any such violations.
New laws and increasing levels of regulation in the areas of privacy and protection of user data could harm our business.
We are subject to multiple laws relating to the collection, use, sharing, retention, deletion, security, transfer and other handling of personal data about individuals, including our users and employees around the world. Data protection and privacy laws may differ, and be interpreted and applied inconsistently, from country to country. In many cases, these laws apply not only to user data, employee data and third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between or among ourselves, our subsidiaries, and other parties with which we have commercial relations. These laws continue to develop around the globe and in ways we cannot predict and that may harm our business.
Regulatory scrutiny of privacy, data protection, and the collection, use, sharing, retention and deletion of personal data is increasing on a global basis. We are subject to a number of privacy laws and regulations in the countries in which we operate and these laws and regulations will likely continue to evolve over time, both through regulatory and legislative action and judicial decisions. In addition, compliance with these laws may restrict our ability to provide services to our customers that they may find to be valuable. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) applies to personal data collected in the context of all of our activities conducted from an establishment in the European Union, related to products and services offered to individuals in the European Union or related to the monitoring of individuals’ behavior in Europe, imposes a range of significant compliance obligations regarding the handling of personal data. Additionally, we have “Binding Corporate Rules” in place, which require us to apply European Union data protection standards to all users and employees across the globe. Actions required to comply with these obligations depend in part on how particular and strict regulators interpret and apply them. If we fail to comply with the GDPR, or if regulators assert we have failed to comply with the GDPR, we may be subject to regulatory enforcement actions, that can result in monetary penalties of up to 20 million euros or 4% of our annual worldwide revenue (whichever is higher), private lawsuits, and/or reputational damage. There are continuing legal challenges and regulatory scrutiny of cross-border data transfers from the European Union and other jurisdictions, which may impact the cross-border transfer of personal data throughout our organization and to/from third parties.
In the United States, at least a dozen states have adopted generally applicable and comprehensive consumer privacy laws, with the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) extending more broadly to personal data about any type of California resident (including employees and individuals acting in a professional capacity at other companies as well). These new and developing state laws provide a number of new privacy rights for residents of these states and impose corresponding obligations on organizations doing business in these states. Not only do these laws require that we make disclosures about our data collection, use and sharing practices, but they also require that we provide new rights to individuals, such as the rights to access, delete and correct personal data. These new and developing laws will require us to continue to incur costs and expenses in our effort to comply. In addition, a number of other U.S. states are continuing to propose laws and regulations imposing obligations regarding the handling of personal data. Compliance with the GDPR, the new U.S. state laws, and other current and future applicable U.S. and international privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, AI and other data-related laws can be costly and time-consuming. For example, the European Union has been continuing its work on the Artificial Intelligence Act, which lays out the guardrails for AI systems where non-compliance can result in fines up to 35 million euros or 7% of global turnover. Complying with these varying national and international data and privacy-related requirements could cause us to incur substantial costs and/or require us to change our business practices in a manner adverse to our business and violations of data and privacy-related laws can result in significant penalties.
A determination that there have been violations of laws relating to our practices under communications-based laws could also expose us to significant damage awards, fines and other penalties that could, individually or in the aggregate, materially harm our business. In particular, because of the enormous number of emails, texts and other communications we send to our users, communications laws that provide a specified monetary damage award or fine for each violation (such as those described below) could result in particularly large awards or fines.
For example, under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the “TCPA”), we face potential exposure to liability for certain types of telephonic communication with customers, including but not limited to text messages to mobile phones. Under the TCPA, plaintiffs may seek actual monetary loss or statutory damages of $500 per violation, whichever is greater, and courts may treble the damage award for willful or knowing violations. We are regularly subject to class-action lawsuits, as well as individual lawsuits, containing allegations that our businesses violated the TCPA. These lawsuits, and other private lawsuits not currently alleged as class actions, seek damages (including statutory damages) and injunctive relief, among other remedies. While a 2021 Supreme Court decision narrowed the applicability of the TCPA’s restrictions, plaintiffs continue to test the boundaries of the decision, and a few states, including Florida and Oklahoma, have adopted TCPA-like laws that similarly provide for statutory damages and a private right of action. Additional states may follow suit. Given the enormous number of communications we send to our users, a determination that there have been violations of the TCPA or other communications-based statutes could expose us to significant damage awards that could, individually or in the aggregate, materially harm our business.
We post on our websites our privacy notices and practices concerning the collection, use, sharing, disclosure, deletion and retention of our user data. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our posted privacy notices or with any regulatory requirements or orders or other U.S. federal, state or international privacy or consumer protection-related laws and regulations, including the GDPR and CCPA, could result in proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others (e.g., class action plaintiffs), subject us to significant penalties and negative publicity, require us to change our business practices, increase our costs and adversely affect our business. Data collection, data usage and sharing, privacy and security have become the subject of increasing public concern. If Internet and mobile users were to reduce their use of our websites, mobile platforms, products, and services as a result of these concerns, or not consent to the use of their personal data for certain marketing or advertising purposes, our business could be harmed. We also have experienced security breaches and likely will in the future, which themselves may result in a violation of these laws and give rise to regulatory enforcement and/or private litigation.
Other laws and regulations could harm our business.
It is not always clear how laws and regulations governing matters relevant to our business, such as property ownership, copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property issues, parallel imports and distribution controls, taxation, libel and defamation, and obscenity apply to our businesses. Many of these laws were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet, mobile, and related technologies and, as a result, do not contemplate or address the unique issues of the Internet and related technologies. Many of these laws, including some of those that do reference the Internet are subject to interpretation by the courts on an ongoing basis and the resulting uncertainty in the scope and application of these laws and regulations increases the risk that we will be subject to private claims and governmental actions alleging violations of those laws and regulations.
As our activities, the products and services we offer, our investment in other companies, and our geographical scope continue to expand, regulatory agencies or courts may claim or determine that we or our users are subject to additional requirements (including licensure) or prohibited from conducting our business in their jurisdiction, either generally or with respect to certain actions. For example, we have the ability to acquire investments in other companies (such as Adevinta, Adyen, and Gmarket) that raise the potential for us to be deemed an investment company as defined by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). While we intend to conduct our operations such that we will not be deemed an investment company, such a determination would require us to initiate burdensome compliance requirements and comply with restrictions imposed by the Investment Company Act that would limit our activities, including limitations on our capital structure and our ability to transact with affiliates, which would have an adverse effect on our financial condition. Further, financial and political events have increased the level of regulatory scrutiny on large companies, and regulatory agencies may view matters or interpret laws and regulations differently than they have in the past and in a manner adverse to our businesses.
Numerous U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions, including the State of California, have regulations regarding “auctions” and the handling of property by “secondhand dealers” or “pawnbrokers.” Several states and some foreign jurisdictions have attempted to impose such regulations upon us or our users, and others may attempt to do so in the future. Attempted enforcement of these laws against some of our users appears to be increasing and we could be required to change the way we or our users do business in ways that increase costs or reduce revenues, such as forcing us to prohibit listings of certain items or restrict certain listing formats in some locations. We could also be subject to fines or other penalties, and any of these outcomes could harm our business.
The European Union Digital Services Act (the “DSA”) became effective in November 2022 and will begin to be enforced in mid-February 2024. The DSA imposes legal obligations on online marketplaces operating in Europe, requiring them to verify the identity of business sellers and make best efforts to assess proper disclosure by traders of required information, as well as information on the safety and authenticity of products posted by third-party merchants. The DSA also enforces new content moderation obligations, notice obligations, advertising restrictions and other requirements on digital platforms that will create additional operational burdens and compliance costs for us. For online platforms like ours, noncompliance with the DSA could result in fines of up to 6% of annual global revenues, which would be adverse to our business. Additionally, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act creates requirements around monitoring and handling harmful content and may require us to expend resources to comply with the new regulations.
The European Union has also adopted certain additional regulations relating to the safety and sustainability of products on the EU market, which bring new obligations both on us directly and our sellers and vendors. Additionally, certain EU-member countries have enacted anti-waste regulations that create direct obligations on sellers and impose compliance verification obligations on us. These anti-waste regulations vary by EU-member country, creating additional operational burdens and compliance costs on our sellers and us. These proposed and ongoing regulations could cause our Marketplaces to be less attractive to current and prospective sellers and buyers, which could materially impact our business.
Government regulators globally are also imposing new data reporting requirements on platforms for user tax compliance. These laws (e.g., DAC 7 in the European Union) may make users more reluctant to use our services due to increased sensitivity around personal data collection and reporting (e.g., Form 1099-K in the United States), even when mandated by applicable laws and regulations.
As we expand and localize our international activities, we are increasingly becoming obligated to comply with the laws of the countries or markets in which we operate. In addition, because our services are accessible worldwide and we facilitate sales of goods and provide services to users worldwide, one or more jurisdictions may claim that we or our users are required to comply with their laws based on the location of our servers or one or more of our users, or the location of the product or service being sold or provided in an ecommerce transaction. Laws regulating Internet, mobile and ecommerce technologies outside of the United States are generally less favorable to us than those in the United States. Compliance may be more costly or may require us to change our business practices or restrict our service offerings, and the imposition of any regulations on us or our users may harm our business. In addition, we may be subject to multiple overlapping legal or regulatory regimes that impose conflicting requirements on us (e.g., in cross-border trade). Our alleged failure to comply with foreign laws could subject us to penalties ranging from criminal prosecution to significant fines to bans on our services, in addition to the significant costs we may incur in defending against such actions.
Our disclosures and stakeholder expectations related to environmental, social and governance matters may impose additional costs and expose us to new risks.
We have voluntarily established and publicly disclosed certain environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) goals, including targets for growth in less-advantaged communities and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. These statements reflect our current plans and aspirations and are not guarantees that we will be able to achieve them. Our failure to accomplish or accurately track and report on these goals on a timely basis, or at all, could adversely affect our reputation, financial performance and growth, and expose us to increased scrutiny from the investment community, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders. If our ESG goals or performance are perceived to be inadequate, or if such goals or performance are perceived to be worse than those of our competitors, our reputation, our ability to attract or retain employees and our attractiveness as an investment, business partner or acquirer could be harmed.
In addition, ESG best practices and reporting standards are complex and evolving, and new laws, regulations, policies and international accords relating to ESG matters are being developed and formalized in numerous jurisdictions. Some of these laws and regulations require specific, target-driven frameworks and disclosures. For example, in the United States, the SEC has proposed climate change and ESG reporting requirements, and California recently enacted legislation that creates new disclosure requirements regarding greenhouse gas emissions, climate change-related financial risk and carbon offset purchases for companies that operate in California. Our costs to comply with these and other ESG reporting requirements, including new ESG standards and initiatives in the European Union, could be significant, and such disclosure requirements could result in revisions to
our previous ESG-related disclosures or challenges in meeting evolving and varied regulatory, investor and other stakeholder expectations and standards, which could expose us to liability or harm our business and reputation.
We are regularly subject to litigation and regulatory and government inquiries, investigations and disputes, as our business evolves and as governments and regulators seek to extend new and existing laws to reach our business model.
As described under “Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies - Litigation and Other Legal Matters” and above under the heading “Our business is subject to extensive and increasing government regulation and oversight, which could adversely impact our business,” we are regularly subject to claims, lawsuits (including class actions and individual lawsuits), government investigations, and other proceedings involving competition and antitrust, intellectual property, privacy, consumer protection, accessibility claims, securities, tax, labor and employment, commercial disputes, content generated by our users, services and other matters. The number and significance of these disputes and inquiries have increased as our Company has grown larger, our businesses have expanded in scope and geographic reach, and our products and services have increased in complexity. As the global regulatory and legal landscape evolves, we may also become subject to product liability or other claims when products sold by third parties using our platforms result in personal injury, illness, death, injury to property or harm to the environment, or such sales are alleged to be in violation of the law.
The outcome and impact of such claims, lawsuits, government investigations, and other proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty. Regardless of the outcome, such investigations and proceedings can have a material adverse impact on us because of legal costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors. Determining reserves for our pending litigation and other proceedings is a complex, fact-intensive process that is subject to judgment calls. If one or more matters were resolved against us in a reporting period for amounts in excess of management’s expectations, the impact on our operating results or financial condition for that reporting period could be material. These proceedings could also result in criminal sanctions, consent decrees, reputational harm, harm to our relations with various government agencies and regulators, or orders preventing us from offering certain products or services, or requiring a change in our business practices in costly ways, or requiring development of non-infringing or otherwise altered products or technologies. Any of these consequences could materially harm our business.
We could be subject to regulatory or agency investigations and/or court proceedings under unfair competition laws that could adversely impact our business.
Our conduct and actions are subject to scrutiny by various government agencies under U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including antitrust and competition laws. Some jurisdictions also provide private rights of action for competitors or consumers to assert claims of unfair or anti-competitive conduct. Other companies and government agencies have in the past alleged, and may in the future allege that our actions violate the antitrust or competition laws of the United States, individual states, the European Union or other countries, or otherwise constitute unfair competition. An increasing number of governments are regulating activities by online platforms as a complement to competition law, and we may be subjected to such regulation. Our business partnerships or agreements or arrangements with customers or other companies could give rise to law enforcement action or antitrust litigation. Some regulators and enforcement agencies may perceive our business to be used so broadly that otherwise uncontroversial business practices could be deemed anticompetitive. Certain competition authorities have conducted market studies of our industries. Any claims and investigations, even if without foundation, may be very expensive to defend, involve negative publicity and substantial diversion of management time and effort and could result in judgments against us with significant fines or require us to change our business practices.
The listing or sale by our users of certain items, including items that allegedly infringe the intellectual property rights of rights owners, including pirated or counterfeit items, illegal items or items used in an illegal manner, may harm our business.
The listing or sale by our users of unlawful, counterfeit or stolen goods or unlawful services, or sale of goods or services in an unlawful manner, has resulted and may continue to result in allegations of civil or criminal liability for unlawful activities against us (including the employees and directors of our various entities) involving activities carried out by users through our services. In a number of circumstances, third parties, including government regulators and law enforcement officials, have alleged that our services aid and abet violations of certain laws, including laws regarding the sale of counterfeit items, laws restricting or prohibiting the transferability (and by extension, the resale) of digital goods (e.g., books, music and software), the fencing of stolen goods, selective distribution channel laws, customs laws, distance selling laws, and the sale of items outside of the United States that are regulated by U.S. export controls. Additionally, legislative proposals in the United States seek to make online marketplaces contributorily liable for the use of a counterfeit mark by third party sellers.
In addition, allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, including but not limited to counterfeit items, have resulted and may continue to result in threatened and actual litigation from time to time by rights owners. These and similar suits may also force us to modify our business practices in a manner that increases costs, lowers revenue, makes our websites and mobile platforms less convenient to customers, and requires us to spend substantial resources to take additional protective measures or discontinue certain service offerings to combat these practices. In addition, we have received and may continue to receive significant media attention relating to the listing or sale of illegal or counterfeit goods, which could damage our reputation, diminish the value of our brand names, and make users reluctant to use our products and services.
As described more fully under “Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies - Litigation and Other Legal Matters” and above under the heading “Our business is subject to extensive and increasing government regulation and oversight, which could adversely impact our business,” certain government agencies have sought, or continue to seek, to hold us liable for third-party sales on our Marketplace platforms to the extent such sales implicate laws and regulations enforced by those agencies, including specifically the EPA, the DEA and the OPSS, and we paid $59 million and agreed to implement enhanced processes regarding our monitoring and reporting of listings that violate our terms of service, pursuant to the DEA Settlement Agreement, to fully resolve the U.S. Department of Justice’s allegations of noncompliance arising under the Controlled Substances Act. If we are found liable for any instances of such activities, or if new laws or court decisions impose liability on marketplace platforms, we likely will be subject to monetary damages, required to change our business practices or implement other remedies that could have a material adverse impact on our business, and our reputation could suffer harm.
We are subject to risks associated with information disseminated through our services.
Online services companies may be subject to claims relating to information disseminated through their services, including claims alleging defamation, libel, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, negligence, copyright or trademark infringement, among other things. The laws relating to the liability of online services companies for information disseminated through their services are subject to frequent challenges both in the United States and foreign jurisdictions. Any liabilities incurred as a result of these matters could require us to incur additional costs and harm our reputation and our business.
A number of legislative proposals in the United States seek to make online platforms liable to third parties for the user-provided content on sites like ours. If we become liable for information provided by our users and carried on our service in any jurisdiction in which we operate, we could be directly harmed and we may be forced to implement new measures to reduce our exposure to this liability, including expending substantial resources or discontinuing certain service offerings, which could harm our business.
Interest Rate and Indebtedness Risks
Fluctuations in interest rates, and changes in regulatory guidance related to such interest rates, could adversely impact our financial results.
During 2022 and 2023, the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates to combat inflation. Although the Federal Reserve has indicated that it expects to reduce interest rates in 2024, our borrowing costs have been and will continue to be impacted by increased interest rates, which could negatively impact our results of operations and
financial condition. The cost of future fixed rate indebtedness may be more expensive than existing fixed rate indebtedness that is coming due and being refinanced. Further, although as of December 31, 2023 we had no outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility, our revolving credit facility is subject to floating interest rates and therefore is also subject to interest rate risks to the extent we borrow in the future. We have in the past and may in the future enter into interest rate hedging arrangements, but we can provide no assurances that these arrangements will fully mitigate the increased borrowing costs.
In addition, investments in both fixed-rate and floating-rate interest-earning instruments carry varying degrees of interest rate risk. As described more fully under “Note 7 - Investments,” in 2022 and 2023, the fair market value of our fixed-rate investment securities was adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates, which may occur again in future periods. This increase was partially offset by increased interest income resulting from higher yielding investments in a higher interest rate environment. If rates were to return to lower levels, we would expect to see the opposite effect with a corresponding reduction in investment income and increase in fair value.
We have substantial indebtedness, and we may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, and we may not generate sufficient cash flow from our business to service our indebtedness. Failure to comply with the terms of our indebtedness could result in the acceleration of our indebtedness, which could have an adverse effect on our cash flow and liquidity.
We have a substantial amount of outstanding indebtedness and we may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, including under our commercial paper program and revolving credit facility or through public or private offerings of debt securities. Our outstanding indebtedness and any additional indebtedness we incur may have significant consequences, including, without limitation, any of the following:
•requiring us to use a significant portion of our cash flow from operations and other available cash to service our indebtedness, thereby reducing the amount of cash available for other purposes, including capital expenditures, dividends, share repurchases, and acquisitions;
•our indebtedness and leverage may increase our vulnerability to downturns in our business, to competitive pressures, and to adverse changes in general economic and industry conditions;
•adverse changes in the ratings assigned to our debt securities by credit rating agencies will likely increase our borrowing costs;
•our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, share repurchases, dividends or other general corporate and other purposes may be limited; and
•our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and our industry may be limited.
Tax Risks
Our business and our sellers and buyers may be subject to evolving sales and other tax regimes in various jurisdictions, which may harm our business.
The application of indirect taxes such as sales and use tax, value-added tax (“VAT”), goods and services tax (“GST”) (including the “digital services tax”), business tax, withholding tax and gross receipt tax, and tax information reporting obligations to businesses like ours and to our sellers and buyers is a complex and evolving issue. Many of the fundamental statutes and regulations that impose these taxes were established before the adoption and growth of the Internet and ecommerce. Significant judgment is required to evaluate applicable tax obligations and as a result amounts recorded are estimates and are subject to adjustments. In many cases, the ultimate tax determination is uncertain because it is not clear when and how new and existing statutes might apply to our business or to our sellers’ businesses. In some cases it may be difficult or impossible for us to validate information provided to us by our sellers on which we must rely to ascertain any obligations that may apply to us related to our sellers’ businesses, given the intricate nature of these regulations as they apply to particular products or services and that many of the products and services sold in our Marketplace are unique or handmade. If we are found to be deficient in how we have addressed our tax obligations, our business could be adversely impacted.
From time to time, some taxing authorities in the United States have notified us that they believe we owe them certain taxes imposed on our services. These notifications have not resulted in any significant tax liabilities to date, but there is a risk that some jurisdiction may be successful in the future, which would harm our business. While we attempt to comply in those jurisdictions where it is clear that a tax is due, some of our subsidiaries have, from time to time, received claims relating to the applicability of indirect taxes to our fees. Additionally, we pay input VAT on applicable taxable purchases within the various countries in which we operate. In most cases, we are entitled to
reclaim this input VAT from the various countries. However, because of our unique business model, the application of the laws and rules that allow such reclamation is sometimes uncertain. A successful assertion by one or more countries that we are not entitled to reclaim VAT could harm our business.
Various jurisdictions are seeking to, or have recently imposed additional reporting, record-keeping, indirect tax collection and remittance obligations, or revenue-based taxes on businesses like ours that facilitate online commerce. If requirements like these become applicable in additional jurisdictions, our business, collectively with eBay sellers’ businesses, could be harmed. For example, taxing authorities in the United States and in other countries have targeted e-commerce platforms as a means to calculate, collect, and remit indirect taxes for transactions taking place over the internet, and have enacted laws and others are considering similar legislation. To date, 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have enacted Internet sales tax legislation with additional states anticipated to adopt legislation in the coming years. Our business is also required to increase payments reporting requirements for U.S. sellers as a result of federal legislation. All businesses that process payments are now required to issue a Form 1099-K for all sellers who receive more than $600 in gross payments in a year, a decrease from the previous reporting threshold of $20,000 and 200 transactions. The IRS recently announced a second one-year delay of this rule covering 2023 transactions. As a result, Form 1099-Ks for the $600 threshold will be issued beginning in January 2025 for 2024 transactions, subject to potential new federal legislation raising the threshold and/or future IRS action. Tax collection responsibility and the additional costs associated with complex sales and use tax collection, remittance and audit requirements, or reporting, could create additional burdens for buyers and sellers on our websites and mobile platforms. Moreover, any failure by us to prepare for and comply with this and similar reporting and record-keeping obligations could result in substantial monetary penalties and other sanctions, adversely impact our ability to do business in certain jurisdictions and harm our business.
These legislative changes or new legislation could adversely affect our business if the requirement of tax to be charged on items sold on our Marketplaces causes our Marketplaces to be less attractive to current and prospective buyers, which could materially impact our business and eBay sellers’ businesses. This legislation could also require us or our sellers to incur substantial costs in order to comply, including costs associated with tax calculation, collection, remittance, and audit requirements, which could make selling on our Marketplaces less attractive.
We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities.
The determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires estimation and significant judgment, and there can be from time to time transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Like many other multinational corporations, we are subject to tax in multiple U.S. and foreign jurisdictions and have structured our operations to reduce our effective tax rate. Our determination of our tax liability is always subject to audit and review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities, and we are currently undergoing a number of investigations, audits and reviews by taxing authorities throughout the world, including with respect to our business structure. Any adverse outcome of any such audit or review could harm our business, and the ultimate tax outcome may differ from the amounts recorded in our financial statements and may materially affect our financial results in the period or periods for which such determination is made. While we have established reserves based on assumptions and estimates that we believe are reasonable to cover such eventualities, these reserves may prove to be insufficient.
In addition, our future income taxes could be adversely affected by a shift in our jurisdictional earning mix, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in the valuation of our investments, as a result of gains on our foreign exchange risk management program, or changes in tax laws, regulations, or accounting principles, as well as certain discrete items.
Transactional Risks
Acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships and strategic investments could result in operating difficulties and could harm our business or impact our financial results.
We have acquired a significant number of businesses of varying size and scope, technologies, services, and products, and we maintain investments in certain businesses. We have also disposed of significant businesses. We expect to continue to evaluate and consider a wide array of potential strategic transactions as part of our overall business strategy, including business combinations, acquisitions, and dispositions of businesses, technologies, services, products, and other assets, as well as strategic investments and joint ventures.
These transactions may involve significant challenges and risks, including:
•the potential loss of key customers, merchants, vendors and other key business partners of the companies we acquire, or dispose of, following and continuing after announcement of our transaction plans;
•declining employee morale and retention issues affecting employees of companies that we acquire or dispose of, which may result from changes in compensation, or changes in management, reporting relationships, future prospects or the direction of the acquired or disposed business, which risks may be heightened following our recently announced restructuring plan;
•difficulty making new and strategic hires of new employees;
•diversion of management time and a shift of focus from operating the businesses to the transaction, and in the case of an acquisition, integration and administration;
•the need to provide transition services to a disposed of company, which may result in the diversion of resources and focus;
•the need to integrate the operations, systems (including accounting, management, information, human resource and other administrative systems), technologies, products and personnel of each acquired company, which is an inherently risky and potentially lengthy and costly process;
•the inefficiencies and lack of control that may result if such integration is delayed or not implemented, and unforeseen difficulties and expenditures that may arise as a result;
•the need to implement or improve controls, procedures and policies appropriate for a larger public company at companies that prior to acquisition may have lacked such controls, procedures and policies or whose controls, procedures and policies did not meet applicable legal and other standards;
•risks associated with our expansion in new international markets and new areas of business;
•derivative lawsuits resulting from the acquisition or disposition;
•liability for activities of the acquired or disposed of company before the transaction, including intellectual property and other litigation claims or disputes, violations of laws, rules and regulations, commercial disputes, tax liabilities and other known and unknown liabilities and, in the case of dispositions, liabilities to the acquirers of those businesses under contractual provisions such as representations, warranties and indemnities;
•the potential loss of key employees following the transaction;
•the acquisition of new customer and employee personal data by us or a third party acquiring assets or businesses from us, which in and of itself may require regulatory approval and or additional controls, policies and procedures and subject us to additional exposure;
•any fluctuations in share prices, financial results and fluctuations in exchange rates, and our ability to sell our shares in any company we have invested in; and
•our dependence on the acquired business’ accounting, financial reporting, operating metrics and similar systems, controls and processes and the risk that errors or irregularities in those systems, controls and processes will lead to errors in our consolidated financial statements or make it more difficult to manage the acquired business.
We have made certain investments, including through joint ventures, in which we have a minority equity interest and/or lack management and operational control. The controlling joint venture partner in a joint venture may have business interests, strategies, or goals that are inconsistent with ours, and business decisions or other actions or omissions of the controlling joint venture partner or the joint venture company may result in harm to our reputation or adversely affect the value of our investment in the joint venture. Any circumstances, which may be out of our control, that adversely affect the value of our investments, or cost resulting from regulatory action or lawsuits in connection with our investments, could harm our business or negatively impact our financial results.
We entered into a warrant agreement in conjunction with a commercial agreement with Adyen that entitles us to acquire a fixed number of shares of Adyen’s common stock subject to certain milestones being met. This warrant is accounted for as a derivative instrument under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging. Changes in Adyen’s common stock price and equity volatility have had, and may continue to have in the future, a significant impact on the value of this warrant. We report this warrant on a quarterly basis at fair value in our consolidated balance sheets, and changes in the fair value of this warrant are recognized in our consolidated statement of income. Fluctuations in Adyen’s common stock price and prevailing foreign exchange rate or other changes in assumptions could result in material changes in the fair value that we report in our consolidated balance sheets and our consolidated statement of income, which could have a material impact on our financial results.
As a result of a prior transaction, we own a significant number of Adevinta shares, and fluctuations in Adevinta’s share price and financial results and fluctuations in exchange rates could result in material changes in our consolidated balance sheet and our consolidated statement of income. As described more fully under “Note 7 - Investments - Equity Investments,” we recorded significant unrealized gains and losses in 2023 and 2022, respectively, relating to the change in fair value of these shares and also entered into an agreement in November 2023 to sell 50% of our shares and exchange our remaining shares for an equity stake of approximately 20% in a newly privatized Adevinta, which transaction remains subject to closing conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024 (the “Adevinta Transaction”). If the Adevinta Transaction closes and Adevinta shares cease to trade on the Oslo Stock Exchange, our ability to sell our shares in a newly privatized Adevinta in the future will be limited and subject to market conditions and other factors, which may impact the value we are able to realize from any such sales.
We could incur significant liability if the Distribution of PayPal is determined to be a taxable transaction.
We have received an opinion from outside tax counsel to the effect that our distribution of 100% of the outstanding common stock of PayPal to our stockholders on July 17, 2015 (the “Distribution”) qualifies as a transaction that is described in Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code. The opinion relies on certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings from PayPal and us regarding the past and future conduct of the companies’ respective businesses and other matters. If any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are incorrect or not satisfied, our stockholders and we may not be able to rely on the opinion of tax counsel and could be subject to significant tax liabilities. Notwithstanding the opinion of tax counsel that we have received, the IRS could determine on audit that the Distribution is taxable if it determines that any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are not correct or have been violated or if it disagrees with the conclusions in the opinion. If the Distribution is determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, our stockholders that are subject to U.S. federal income tax and we could incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities.
We may be exposed to claims and liabilities as a result of the Distribution.
We entered into a separation and distribution agreement and various other agreements with PayPal to govern the Distribution and the relationship of the two companies. These agreements provide for specific indemnity and liability obligations and could lead to disputes between us and PayPal. The indemnity rights we have against PayPal under the agreements may not be sufficient to protect us. In addition, our indemnity obligations to PayPal may be significant and these risks could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.

---

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B: UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not applicable.

---

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2: PROPERTIES
We own and lease various properties in the United States and 23 other countries around the world. We use the properties for executive and administrative offices, data centers, product development offices and customer service offices. Our headquarters are located in San Jose, California and occupies approximately 0.5 million square feet. Our owned data centers are solely located in Utah. The following table presents the aggregate square footage of our owned and leased properties for our continuing operations as of December 31, 2023 (in millions):
United States Other Countries Total
Owned facilities 1.3 - 1.3
Leased facilities 0.8 0.9 1.7
Total facilities 2.1 0.9 3.0
From time to time we consider various alternatives related to our long-term facilities needs. While we believe that our existing facilities are adequate to meet our immediate needs, it may become necessary to develop and improve land that we own or lease or acquire additional or alternative space to accommodate any future growth.

---

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3: LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
The information set forth under “Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies - Litigation and Other Legal Matters” to the consolidated financial statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is incorporated herein by reference.

---

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4: MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

---

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5: MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Common Stock
Our common stock has been traded on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “EBAY” since September 24, 1998. As of February 23, 2024, there were approximately 2,967 holders of record of our common stock, although we believe that there are a significantly larger number of beneficial owners of our common stock.
Dividend Policy
We paid a total of $528 million and $489 million in cash dividends during the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. In February 2024, we declared a cash dividend for the first quarter of 2024 of $0.27 per share of common stock to be paid on March 25, 2024 to stockholders of record as of March 11, 2024. The timing, declaration, amount and payment of any future cash dividends are at the discretion of the Board and will depend on many factors, including our available cash, working capital, financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, covenants in our credit agreement, applicable law and other business considerations that the Board considers relevant.
Performance Measurement Comparison
The graph below shows the cumulative total stockholder return of an investment of $100 (and the reinvestment of any dividends thereafter) on December 31, 2018 (the last trading day for the year ended December 31, 2018) in (i) our common stock, (ii) the Nasdaq Composite Index, (iii) the S&P 500 Index and (iv) the S&P 500 Information Technology Index.
Our stock price performance shown in the graph below is not indicative of future stock price performance. The graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or be deemed to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any past or future filing with the SEC, except to the extent that such filing specifically states that such graph and related information are incorporated by reference into such filing.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
Stock repurchase activity during the three months ended December 31, 2023 was as follows:
Period Ended Total Number of Shares Purchased Average Price Paid per Share (2)
Total Number of
Shares Purchased
as Part of Publicly
Announced
Programs Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet be Purchased Under the Programs (1)
October 31, 2023 2,170,152 $ 41.47 2,170,152 $ 1,607,400,181
November 30, 2023 2,368,319 $ 40.22 2,368,319 $ 1,512,138,901
December 31, 2023 1,543,144 $ 41.95 1,543,144 $ 1,447,400,208
6,081,615 6,081,615
(1)Our stock repurchase programs are intended to programmatically offset the impact of dilution from our equity compensation programs and, subject to market conditions and other factors, to make opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock to reduce our outstanding share count. Any share repurchases under our stock repurchase programs may be made through open market transactions, block trades, privately negotiated transactions (including accelerated share repurchase transactions) or other means at times and in such amounts as management deems appropriate and will be funded from our working capital or other financing alternatives. These stock repurchase programs have no expiration from the date of authorization.
During the three months ended December 31, 2023 we repurchased approximately $283 million of our common stock under our stock repurchase programs. Of the additional $4.0 billion stock repurchase program authorized by our Board in February 2022, as of December 31, 2023 a total of approximately $1.4 billion remained available for future repurchases of our common stock. In February 2024, our Board authorized an additional $2.0 billion stock repurchase program.
We expect, subject to market conditions and other uncertainties, to continue making opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock. However, our stock repurchase programs may be limited or terminated at any time without prior notice. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including corporate and regulatory requirements, price and other market conditions and management’s determination as to the appropriate use of our cash.
(2)Excludes broker commissions and excise tax accruals.

---

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6: [RESERVED]

---

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7: MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in this report. This section of this Form 10-K generally discusses 2023 and 2022 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2023 and 2022. Discussions of 2021 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 are not included in this Form 10-K, and can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.
OVERVIEW
Business
eBay Inc. is a global commerce leader that connects people and builds communities to create economic opportunity for all. Our technology empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world, providing everyone the opportunity to grow and thrive. Our Marketplace platforms, including our online marketplace located at www.ebay.com and its localized counterparts, our off-platform businesses in Japan and the United States, and our suite of mobile apps, together, create one of the world's largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and unique selection.
Throughout most of 2023, we experienced reduced traffic in most markets resulting from geopolitical events, inflationary pressure, foreign exchange rate volatility, elevated interest rates and lower consumer confidence. These factors negatively impacted discretionary consumer spending, are uncertain in duration and we expect them to continue into 2024.
Presentation
In addition to the corresponding measures under generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), management uses non-GAAP measures in reviewing our financial results. The foreign exchange neutral (“FX-Neutral”), or constant currency, net revenue amounts discussed below are non-GAAP financial measures and are not in accordance with, or an alternative to, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, the FX-Neutral information appearing in the following discussion of our results of operations should be read in conjunction with the information provided below in “Non-GAAP Measures of Financial Performance,” which includes reconciliations of FX-Neutral financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. We calculate the year-over-year impact of foreign currency movements using prior period foreign currency rates, excluding hedging activity, applied to current year transactional currency amounts.
Fiscal Year Highlights
Net revenues increased 3% to $10.1 billion during 2023 compared to $9.8 billion in 2022. FX-Neutral net revenues (as defined above) increased 4% compared to 2022. Operating margin decreased to 19.2% in 2023 compared to 24.0% in 2022.
We generated cash flow from continuing operating activities of $2.4 billion in 2023 compared to $2.6 billion in 2022.
We recorded $1.8 billion of aggregate gains on equity investments and warrant in our consolidated statement of income during 2023 compared to $3.8 billion of aggregate losses recorded during 2022.
In 2023, we repurchased $1.4 billion of common stock and paid $528 million in cash dividends.
In 2023, we repaid debt of $1.2 billion consisting of the floating rate and 2.750% senior notes due 2023.
In 2023, we announced our support for the voluntary tender offer led by Permira and Blackstone to acquire all the publicly traded shares of Adevinta (the “Adevinta Transaction”). As part of the Adevinta Transaction, eBay agreed to sell 50% of its shares for an estimated $2.2 billion and to exchange the remaining shares for an equity stake of approximately 20% in the newly privatized company. The Adevinta Transaction remains subject to closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.
In February 2024, our Board authorized an additional $2.0 billion stock repurchase program with no expiration from the date of authorization.
In February 2024, we declared a cash dividend for the first quarter of 2024 of $0.27 per share of common stock to be paid on March 25, 2024 to stockholders of record as of March 11, 2024.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
We have one reportable segment to reflect the way management and our chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) review and assess performance of the business. Our reportable segment is Marketplace, which includes our online marketplace located at www.ebay.com, its localized counterparts and the eBay suite of mobile apps. The accounting policies of our segment are the same as those described in “Note 1 - The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.
Net Revenues
Net revenues primarily include final value fees, feature fees, fees to promote listings, payment service fees, listing fees, and store subscription fees from sellers on our platforms. Our net revenues also include revenues from the sale of advertisements, revenue sharing arrangements and shipping fees. Our net revenues are reduced by incentives, including discounts, coupons and rewards, provided to our customers.
The following table presents net revenues for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31,
2023 % Change 2022 % Change 2021
Net revenues $ 10,112 3 % $ 9,795 (6) % $ 10,420
Seasonality
We expect transaction activity patterns on our platforms to trend with general consumer buying patterns and expect that these trends will continue. Seasonal trends in net revenues may be influenced as we introduce and scale new products throughout the year. In addition, macroeconomic conditions, including the impact of COVID-19, have in the past disrupted seasonal patterns in net revenues, particularly in the first quarter of 2021. The following table presents our total net revenues and the sequential quarterly movements of these net revenues for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Quarter Ended
March 31 June 30 September 30 December 31
Net revenues $ 2,638 $ 2,668 $ 2,501 $ 2,613
% change from prior quarter 6 % 1 % (6) % 4 %
Net revenues $ 2,483 $ 2,422 $ 2,380 $ 2,510
% change from prior quarter (5) % (2) % (2) % 5 %
Net revenues $ 2,510 $ 2,540 $ 2,500 $ 2,562
% change from prior quarter - % 1 % (2) % 2 %
Net Revenues by Geography
Revenues are attributed to U.S. and international geographies primarily based upon the country in which the seller, platform that displays advertising, other service provider or customer, as the case may be, is located. The following table presents net revenues by geography for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31,
2023 % Change 2022 % Change 2021
U.S. $ 5,073 5 % 4,842 (4) % $ 5,048
% of net revenues 50 % 49 % 48 %
International 5,039 2 % 4,953 (8) % 5,372
% of net revenues 50 % 51 % 52 %
Total net revenues (1)(2)
$ 10,112 3 % $ 9,795 (6) % $ 10,420
(1)Net revenues were net of $56 million and $140 million of hedging gains and $65 million of hedging losses during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
(2)Foreign currency movements relative to the U.S. dollar had a favorable impact of $52 million, an unfavorable impact of $320 million and a favorable impact of $188 million during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The effect of foreign currency exchange rate movements in 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily attributable to the weakening of the U.S. dollar against the British pound and other major currencies.
Our commerce platforms operate globally, resulting in certain revenues that are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the British pound and euro. Year-over-year appreciation or depreciation of the U.S. dollar may have a material impact to our financial results, and we have seen and could continue to see elevated foreign currency volatility in the future. Through our hedging programs, we actively monitor foreign currency volatility and attempt to mitigate significant risk. As shown in the table above, we generate approximately half of our net revenues internationally. Therefore, we are subject to the risks related to conducting business in foreign countries as discussed under “Item 1A: Risk Factors” in Part I of this report.
Key Operating Metrics
Gross Merchandise Volume (“GMV”) and take rate are significant factors that we believe affect our net revenues.
GMV consists of the total value of all paid transactions between users on our platforms during the applicable period inclusive of shipping fees and taxes. Despite GMV’s divergence from revenue, we still believe that GMV provides a useful measure of the overall volume of paid transactions that flow through our platforms in a given period.
Take rate is defined as net revenues divided by GMV and represents net revenue as a percentage of overall volume on our platforms. We believe that take rate provides a useful measure of our ability to monetize volume through marketplace services on our platforms in a given period. We use take rate to identify key revenue drivers on our marketplace.
The following table presents net revenues, GMV and take rate for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31, % Change Year Ended December 31, % Change
2023 2022 As Reported FX-Neutral 2022 2021 As Reported FX-Neutral
Net revenues (1)(2)
$ 10,112 $ 9,795 3 % 4 % $ 9,795 $ 10,420 (6) % (4) %
Supplemental data:
GMV
$ 73,206 $ 73,900 (1) % (1) % $ 73,900 $ 87,365 (15) % (11) %
Take rate (3)
13.81 % 13.25 % 0.56 % 13.25 % 11.93 % 1.32 %
(1)Net revenues were net of $56 million and $140 million of hedging gains and $65 million of hedging losses during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
(2)Foreign currency movements relative to the U.S. dollar had a favorable impact of $52 million, an unfavorable impact of $320 million and a favorable impact of $188 million during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
(3)Take rate is defined as net revenues divided by GMV, as discussed above.
Net revenues increased primarily due to the investment in focus categories and a higher take rate driven by the expansion of promoted listings and payment services and the launch of eBay International Shipping. The increase in net revenues was partially offset by a reduction in traffic in most markets resulting from geopolitical events, inflationary pressure, foreign exchange rate volatility, elevated interest rates and lower consumer confidence, which negatively impacted discretionary consumer spending during 2023 compared to 2022.
Net revenues continued to outpace GMV during 2023 primarily due to the benefit of a higher take rate. While we expect this trend to continue to a lesser extent into 2024, we still believe GMV provides a useful measure of overall volume of paid transactions that flow through the platform in a given period.
Cost of Net Revenues
Cost of net revenues represents costs associated with customer support, site operations and payment processing. Significant components of these costs primarily consist of employee compensation (including stock-based compensation), contractor costs, facilities costs, depreciation of equipment and amortization expense, bank transaction fees, credit card interchange and assessment fees, authentication costs, shipping costs and digital services tax. The following table presents cost of net revenues for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31,
2023 % Change 2022 % Change 2021
Cost of net revenues (1)(2)
$ 2,833 6 % $ 2,680 1 % $ 2,650
% of net revenues 28 % 27 % 25 %
(1)Cost of net revenues were net of immaterial hedging activity during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
(2)Foreign currency movements relative to the U.S. dollar had an unfavorable impact of $2 million, a favorable impact of $81 million and an unfavorable impact of $31 million on cost of net revenues during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
The increase in cost of net revenues during 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily driven by a $96 million increase related to the launch of eBay International Shipping, a $39 million increase related to the expansion of authentication services, and a $24 million increase in customer support costs, partially offset by a $17 million decrease in payment processing costs incurred.
Operating Expenses
The following table presents operating expenses for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31,
2023 % Change 2022 % Change 2021
Sales and marketing $ 2,217 4 % $ 2,136 (2) % $ 2,170
% of net revenues 22 % 22 % 21 %
Product development 1,544 16 % 1,330 0 % 1,325
% of net revenues 15 % 14 % 13 %
General and administrative 1,196 24 % 963 5 % 921
% of net revenues 12 % 10 % 9 %
Provision for transaction losses 360 8 % 332 (21) % 422
% of net revenues 4 % 3 % 4 %
Amortization of acquired intangible assets 21 ** 4 (56) % 9
Total operating expenses (1)(2)
$ 5,338 12 % $ 4,765 (2) % $ 4,847
(1)Operating expenses were net of immaterial hedging activity during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
(2)Foreign currency movements relative to the U.S. dollar had a favorable impact of $16 million and $193 million and an unfavorable impact of $82 million on operating expenses during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
** Not meaningful
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses primarily consist of advertising and marketing program costs (both online and offline), employee compensation (including stock-based compensation), certain user coupons and rewards, contractor costs, facilities costs and depreciation on equipment. Online marketing expenses represent traffic acquisition costs in various channels such as paid search, affiliates marketing and display advertising. Offline advertising primarily includes brand campaigns and buyer/seller communications.
The increase in sales and marketing expenses during 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily due to a $91 million increase in employee related costs and a $13 million increase in advertising and marketing program costs (both online and offline), partially offset by a $26 million decrease in user coupons and rewards.
Product Development
Product development expenses primarily consist of employee compensation (including stock-based compensation), contractor costs, facilities costs and depreciation on equipment. Product development expenses are net of required capitalization of major platform and other product development efforts, including the development and maintenance of our technology platform. Our top technology priorities include the implementation of our strategic plan including payment intermediation capabilities, improved seller tools and buyer experiences.
The increase in product development expenses during 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily due to an increase in employee related costs as we continued to innovate and modernize the shopping experience across our platforms powered by intelligent computing at scale.
Capitalized internal use and platform development costs were $115 million and $130 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively. These costs are primarily reflected as a cost of net revenues when amortized in future periods.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses primarily consist of employee compensation (including stock-based compensation), contractor costs, facilities costs, depreciation of equipment, legal expenses, restructuring, insurance premiums and professional fees. Our legal expenses, including those related to various ongoing legal proceedings, may fluctuate substantially from period to period.
The increase in general and administrative expenses during 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily due to $141 million of restructuring costs that did not occur in 2022, an $84 million increase in employee related costs, and an incremental $18 million accrual for probable losses related to legal matters. For additional details related to our legal matters, please see “Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.
Provision for Transaction Losses
Provision for transaction losses primarily consists of transaction loss expense associated with our buyer protection programs, losses from our managed payments services, fraud and bad debt expense associated with our accounts receivable balance. We expect our provision for transaction losses to fluctuate depending on many factors, including changes to our protection programs and the impact of regulatory changes.
The increase in provision for transaction losses during 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily due to $17 million higher transaction loss expense related to the launch of eBay International Shipping.
Gain (Loss) on Equity Investments and Warrant, Net
Gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net primarily consists of gains and losses related to our various types of equity investments, including our equity investments in Adevinta, KakaoBank and Gmarket, and gains and losses due to changes in fair value of the warrant received from Adyen. The following table presents gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31,
2023 % Change 2022 % Change 2021
Unrealized change in fair value of equity investment in Adevinta $ 1,782 166 % $ (2,693) 12 % $ (3,070)
Unrealized change in fair value of equity investment in Adyen - ** (118) ** (10)
Unrealized change in fair value of equity investment in Gmarket
(96) 67 % (294) ** (3)
Unrealized change in fair value of equity investment in KakaoBank (11) 95 % (218) (154) % 403
Change in fair value of warrant 150 165 % (230) (165) % 354
Realized change in fair value of shares sold in
Adevinta (1)
- ** 2 (78) % 9
Realized change in fair value of shares sold in Adyen - ** (143) ** -
Realized change in fair value of shares sold in KakaoBank 13 117 % (75) (190) % 83
Impairment of equity investment in Paytm Mall - ** - ** (160)
Gain (loss) on other investments (2)
(6) 65 % (17) (159) % 29
Total gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net $ 1,832 148 % $ (3,786) 60 % $ (2,365)
(1)Gain (loss) on sale of shares in Adevinta included: (i) in 2022, a $2 million gain on the change in fair value of shares sold; (ii) in 2021, an $88 million gain recognized on the sale of the shares offset by a $79 million loss on the change in fair value of the shares sold.
(2)Gain (loss) on other investments primarily included: (i) in 2022, primarily downward adjustments of $13 million recorded on equity investments under the fair value option and $7 million recorded on equity investments without readily determinable fair values; (ii) in 2021, primarily a $41 million upward adjustment and a $10 million impairment recorded on equity investments without readily determinable fair values.
** Not meaningful
The change in gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net during 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily driven by the change in the fair value of our equity investments in Adevinta, Gmarket and KakaoBank and the warrant.
Interest Expense, Interest Income and Other, Net
Interest and other, net primarily consists of interest earned on cash, cash equivalents and investments, as well as foreign exchange transaction gains and losses, gain/loss on acquisitions or disposals and interest expense, consisting of interest charges on amounts borrowed and commitment fees on unborrowed amounts under our credit agreement and interest expense on our outstanding debt securities and commercial paper, if any. The following table presents interest and other, net for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31,
2023 % Change 2022 % Change 2021
Interest expense $ (263) 12 % $ (235) (13) % $ (269)
Interest income $ 204 179 % $ 73 284 % $ 19
Foreign exchange and other (7) 133 % (3) (103) % 90
Total interest income and other, net
$ 197 181 % $ 70 (36) % $ 109
Interest expense increased primarily due to higher rates offset by lower average notional on outstanding debt during 2023. In 2023, we repaid two tranches of senior notes at substantially lower interest rates than the senior notes that were issued during the fourth quarter of 2022. As a result, we expect continued upward pressure on interest expense into 2024.
Interest income increased primarily due to higher yields on corporate debt and government and agency securities in a higher interest rate environment. We expect this trend to continue into 2024.
Income Tax Provision
The following table presents provision for income taxes and effective tax rate for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended December 31,
2023 2022 2021
Income tax provision (benefit) $ 932 $ (327) $ 146
Effective tax rate 25.1 % 20.4 % 36.6 %
The increase in our effective tax rate for 2023 compared to 2022 was primarily due to a remeasurement of deferred tax assets related to a tax rate reduction and an increase in reserves for uncertain tax positions partially offset by a benefit from the release of a valuation allowance.
We are regularly under examination by tax authorities both domestically and internationally. We believe that adequate amounts have been reserved for any adjustments that may ultimately result from these examinations, although there are inherent uncertainties in these examinations. Due to the ongoing tax examinations, it is generally impractical to determine the amount and timing of these adjustments. However, we expect several tax examinations to close within the next twelve months. See “Note 16 - Income Taxes” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report for more information on estimated settlements within the next twelve months.
Non-GAAP Measures of Financial Performance
To supplement our consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, we use FX-Neutral net revenues, which are non-GAAP financial measures. Management uses the foregoing non-GAAP measures in reviewing our financial results. We define FX-Neutral net revenues as net revenues minus the exchange rate effect. We define exchange rate effect as the year-over-year impact of foreign currency movements using prior period foreign currency rates applied to current year transactional currency amounts, excluding hedging activity.
These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative to, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. Non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with our results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP. These measures should only be used to evaluate our results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures.
These non-GAAP measures are provided to enhance investors’ overall understanding of our current financial performance and its prospects for the future. Specifically, we believe these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to both management and investors by excluding the foreign currency exchange rate impact that may not be indicative of our core operating results and business outlook. In addition, because we have historically reported certain non-GAAP results to investors, we believe that the inclusion of these non-GAAP measures provide consistency in our financial reporting.
The following tables present a reconciliation of FX-Neutral GMV and FX-Neutral net revenues (each as defined below) to our reported GMV and net revenues for the periods indicated (in millions, except percentages):
Year Ended Year Ended December 31,
2023 2022
As Reported Exchange Rate Effect (1)(3)
FX-Neutral (2)
As Reported
As Reported FX-Neutral
GMV $ 73,206 $ (44) $ 73,250 $ 73,900 (1) % (1) %
Net Revenues $ 10,112 $ 52 $ 10,060 $ 9,795 3 % 4 %
Year Ended Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021
As Reported Exchange Rate Effect (1)(3)
FX-Neutral (2)
As Reported
As Reported FX-Neutral
GMV $ 73,900 $ (3,840) $ 77,740 $ 87,365 (15) % (11) %
Net Revenues $ 9,795 $ (320) $ 10,115 $ 10,420 (6) % (4) %
(1)We define exchange rate effect as the year-over-year impact of foreign currency movements using prior period foreign currency rates applied to current year transactional currency amounts, excluding hedging activity.
(2)We define FX-Neutral GMV as GMV minus the exchange rate effect. We define the non-GAAP financial measures of FX-Neutral net revenues as net revenues minus the exchange rate effect.
(3)Net revenues were net of $56 million and $140 million of hedging gains and $65 million of hedging losses during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Cash Flows
Year Ended December 31,
2023 2022 2021
(In millions)
Net cash provided by (used in):
Continuing operating activities $ 2,431 $ 2,627 $ 3,093
Continuing investing activities 240 2,459 (1,417)
Continuing financing activities (2,450) (3,792) (6,557)
Effect of exchange rates on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 5 (57) 24
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash - discontinued operations
(5) (371) 4,669
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 221 $ 866 $ (188)
Continuing Operating Activities
Our operating cash flows arise primarily from cash received from our customers on our platforms offset by cash payments for sales and marketing, employee compensation and payment processing expenses.
Cash provided by continuing operating activities of $2.4 billion in 2023 compared to $2.6 billion in 2022 was primarily attributable to a $409 million decrease in operating income as well as working capital movements and changes in non-cash items.
Continuing Investing Activities
Cash provided by continuing investing activities of $240 million in 2023 was primarily attributable to proceeds of $14.5 billion from the maturities and sales of investments, partially offset by cash paid for investments of $13.9 billion and property and equipment of $456 million.
Cash provided by investing activities of $2.5 billion in 2022 was primarily attributable to proceeds of $20.6 billion from the maturities and sales of investments and proceeds of $1.1 billion in the aggregate from the sales of shares in Adevinta, Adyen and KakaoBank, partially offset by cash paid for investments of $18.5 billion, property and equipment of $449 million and cash paid for the acquisition of TCGplayer of $208 million.
The largely offsetting effects of purchases of investments and maturities and sale of investments results from the management of our investments. As our immediate cash needs change, purchase and sale activity will fluctuate.
Continuing Financing Activities
Cash used in continuing financing activities of $2.5 billion in 2023 was primarily driven by common stock repurchases of $1.4 billion, debt repayments of $1.2 billion related to the redemption of our floating rate and 2.750% senior notes due 2023, and $528 million of cash dividends paid, partially offset by net funds receivable and payable activity of $717 million driven by changes in payment processors.
Cash used in financing activities of $3.8 billion in 2022 was primarily driven by common stock repurchases of $3.1 billion, debt repayments of $1.4 billion, which was comprised of $750 million related to our 3.800% senior fixed rate notes due 2022 and $605 million related to our 2.600% senior fixed rate notes due 2022, and $489 million of cash dividends paid, partially offset by proceeds from debt issuances of $1.2 billion.
The positive and negative effects of exchange rate movements on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were due to the weakening and strengthening of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, primarily the British pound and euro, during 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Liquidity and Capital Resource Requirements
As of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, we had assets classified as cash and cash equivalents, as well as short-term and long-term non-equity investments from continuing operations, in an aggregate amount of $5.1 billion and $5.9 billion, respectively. We believe that our cash, cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments, together with cash expected to be generated from operations, borrowings available under our credit agreement and commercial paper program, and our access to capital markets, will be sufficient to satisfy our material cash requirements over the next 12 months and for the foreseeable future.
However, geopolitical events, inflationary pressure, foreign exchange volatility, elevated interest rates and global economic uncertainty have caused material disruptions in both U.S. and international financial markets and economies and are uncertain in duration. The impact of these events has increased, and may continue to increase, our borrowing costs and other costs of capital and otherwise adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. The future impact of these events cannot be predicted with certainty and we cannot assure that we will have access to external financing at times and on terms we consider acceptable, or at all, or that we will not experience other liquidity issues going forward.
We have certain fixed contractual obligations and commitments that include future estimated payments for general operating purposes. Changes in our business needs, contractual cancellation provisions, fluctuating interest rates, and other factors may result in actual payments differing from the estimates. We cannot provide certainty regarding the timing and amounts of these payments. The following sections summarizes our fixed contractual obligations and commitments.
Senior Notes
In January 2023, we redeemed the $1.2 billion aggregate principal amount of our floating rate and 2.750% senior notes due 2023. Total cash consideration paid was $1.2 billion, as the redemption price was equal to 100% of the principal amount.
As of December 31, 2023, we had fixed-rate senior notes outstanding with an aggregate principal amount of $7.8 billion, with $750 million aggregate principal amount payable within 12 months. Future interest payments associated with the senior notes totaled an aggregate of $2.4 billion, with an aggregate of $0.3 billion payable within 12 months. The net proceeds from the issuances of these senior notes were used for general corporate purposes, including, among other things, capital expenditures, share repurchases, repayment of indebtedness and acquisitions.
Commercial Paper
We have a commercial paper program pursuant to which we may issue commercial paper notes in an aggregate principal amount at maturity of up to $1.5 billion outstanding at any time with maturities of up to 397 days from the date of issue. As of December 31, 2023, there were no commercial paper notes outstanding.
Credit Agreement
In March 2020, we entered into a credit agreement that provided for an unsecured $2.0 billion five-year credit facility (the “Prior Credit Agreement”). As of December 31, 2023, no borrowings were outstanding under the Prior Credit Agreement.
In January 2024, we terminated the Prior Credit Agreement and entered into a new credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) that provides for an unsecured $2.0 billion five-year revolving credit facility. We may also, subject to the agreement of the applicable lenders, increase the commitments under the revolving credit facility by up to $1.0 billion. Funds borrowed under the Credit Agreement may be used for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes and will bear interest at either (i) a customary forward-looking term rate based on the secured overnight financing rate published by CME Group for the relevant interest period plus an adjustment of 0.1% or (ii) a customary base rate formula, plus a margin (based on our public debt ratings) ranging from 0% to 0.375%. The covenants of the Credit Agreement are consistent with the covenants of the Prior Credit Agreement.
Leases
We have operating leases for office space, data centers, as well as other corporate assets that we utilize under lease arrangements. As of December 31, 2023, we had fixed lease payment obligations of $638 million, with $136 million payable within 12 months. For additional details related to our leases, please see “Note 12 - Leases” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.
Purchase Obligations
Purchase obligation amounts include minimum purchase commitments for advertising, capital expenditures (computer equipment, software applications, engineering development services, construction contracts) and other goods and services entered into in the ordinary course of business. As of December 31, 2023, we had purchase obligations of $100 million, with $30 million payable within 12 months.
Income Taxes
We are unable to reasonably predict the timing of settlement of liabilities related to unrecognized tax benefits of $457 million included in other liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2023. The timing of the resolution and/or closure of audits is highly uncertain, and it is reasonably possible that the balance of gross unrecognized tax benefits could significantly change in the next 12 months. However, given the number of years remaining subject to examination and the number of matters being examined, we are unable to estimate the full range of possible adjustments to the balance of gross unrecognized tax benefits.
As of December 31, 2023, our assets classified as cash and cash equivalents, and short-term and long-term non-equity investments from continuing operations included assets held in certain of our foreign operations totaling approximately $1.9 billion. As we repatriate these funds to the United States, we will be required to pay income taxes in certain U.S. states and applicable foreign withholding taxes on those amounts during the period when such repatriation occurs. We have accrued deferred taxes for the tax effect of repatriating the funds to the United States.
See “Note 16 - Income Taxes” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report for more information on unrecognized tax benefits and deferred taxes.
Stock Repurchases
Our stock repurchase programs are intended to programmatically offset the impact of dilution from our equity compensation programs and, subject to market conditions and other factors, to make opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock to reduce our outstanding share count. Any share repurchases under our stock repurchase programs will be funded from our working capital or other financing alternatives.
We expect, subject to market conditions and other uncertainties, to continue making opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock. However, our stock repurchase programs may be limited or terminated at any time without prior notice. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including corporate and regulatory requirements, price and other market conditions and management’s determination as to the appropriate use of our cash.
In February 2022 our Board authorized an additional $4.0 billion stock repurchase program, with no expiration from the date of authorization. During 2023, we repurchased approximately $1.4 billion of our common stock under our stock repurchase programs. As of December 31, 2023, a total of approximately $1.4 billion remained available for future repurchases of our common stock under our stock repurchase programs. In February 2024, our Board authorized an additional $2.0 billion stock repurchase program, with no expiration from the date of authorization. See “Note 14 - Stockholders’ Equity” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report for more information about our stock repurchase programs.
Dividends
We paid a total of $528 million and $489 million in cash dividends in 2023 and 2022, respectively. In February 2024, we declared a cash dividend for the first quarter of 2024 of $0.27 per share of common stock to be paid on March 25, 2024 to stockholders of record as of March 11, 2024.
Other Capital Resource Requirements
We actively monitor all counterparties that hold our cash and cash equivalents and non-equity investments, focusing primarily on the safety of principal and secondarily on improving yield on these assets. We diversify our cash and cash equivalents and investments among various counterparties in order to reduce our exposure should any one of these counterparties fail or encounter difficulties. To date, we have not experienced any material loss or lack of access to our invested cash, cash equivalents or short-term investments; however, we can provide no assurances that access to our invested cash, cash equivalents or short-term investments will not be impacted by adverse conditions in the financial markets, including, without limitation, as a result of the impact of geopolitical events, inflationary pressure and foreign exchange rate volatility. At any point in time we have funds in our operating accounts and customer accounts that are deposited and invested with third party financial institutions.
We have entered into various indemnification agreements and, in the ordinary course of business, we have included limited indemnification provisions in certain of our agreements with parties with which we have commercial relations. It is not possible to determine the maximum potential loss under these various indemnification provisions due to our limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular provision. To date, losses recorded in our consolidated statement of income in connection with our indemnification provisions have not been significant, either individually or collectively. See “Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report for more information about our indemnification provisions.
Critical Accounting Policies, Judgments and Estimates
General
The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related notes requires us to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We have based our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our senior management has discussed the development, selection and disclosure of these estimates with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the estimate is made, and if different estimates that reasonably could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimates that are reasonably likely to occur periodically, could materially impact the consolidated financial statements. We believe the following critical accounting policies reflect the more significant estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. The following descriptions of critical accounting policies, judgments and estimates should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes and other disclosures included in this report.
Revenue Recognition
We may enter into certain revenue contracts that include promises to transfer multiple goods or services, including discounts on future services. We also may enter into arrangements to purchase services from certain customers. As a result, significant interpretation and judgment is sometimes required to determine the appropriate accounting for these transactions, including: (1) whether services are considered distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately or combined; (2) developing an estimate of the stand-alone selling price of each distinct performance obligation; (3) whether revenue should be reported gross (as eBay is acting as a principal), or net (as eBay is acting as an agent); (4) evaluating whether a promotion or incentive is a payment to a customer; and (5) whether the arrangement would be characterized as revenue or reimbursement of costs incurred. Changes in judgments with respect to these assumptions and estimates could impact the timing or amount of revenue recognition.
Income Taxes
Our annual tax rate is based on our income, statutory tax rates and tax planning opportunities available to us in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. Tax laws are complex and subject to different interpretations by the taxpayer and respective government taxing authorities. Significant judgment is required in determining our tax expense and in evaluating our tax positions, including evaluating uncertainties and the complexity of taxes on foreign earnings. We review our tax positions quarterly and adjust the balances as new information becomes available. Tax positions are evaluated for potential reserves for uncertainty based on the estimated probability of sustaining the position under examination. Our income tax rate is affected by the tax rates that apply to our foreign earnings including U.S. minimum taxes on foreign earnings. The deferred tax benefit derived from the amortization of our intellectual property is based on the fair value, which has been agreed with foreign tax authorities. The deferred tax benefit may from time to time change based on changes in tax rates. Management has no specific plans to indefinitely reinvest the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries at the balance sheet date.
Deferred tax assets represent amounts available to reduce income taxes payable on taxable income in future years. Such assets arise because of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, as well as from net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. We evaluate the recoverability of these future tax deductions and credits by assessing the adequacy of future expected taxable income from all sources, including reversal of taxable temporary differences, forecasted operating earnings and available tax planning strategies. These sources of income rely heavily on estimates that are based on a number of factors, including our historical experience and short-range and long-range business forecasts. As of December 31, 2023, we had a valuation allowance on certain net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards based on our assessment that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized.
We recognize and measure uncertain tax positions in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP, pursuant to which we only recognize the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such positions are then measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50 percent likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. We report a liability for unrecognized tax benefits resulting from uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. GAAP further requires that a change in judgment related to the expected ultimate resolution of uncertain tax positions be recognized in earnings in the quarter in which such change occurs. We recognize interest and penalties, if any, related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense.
We file annual income tax returns in multiple taxing jurisdictions around the world. A number of years may elapse before an uncertain tax position is audited by the relevant tax authorities and finally resolved. While it is often difficult to predict the final outcome or the timing of resolution of any particular uncertain tax position, we believe that our reserves for income taxes reflect the most likely outcome. We adjust these reserves, as well as the related interest, where appropriate in light of changing facts and circumstances. Settlement of any particular position could require the use of cash.
Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets or liabilities, or by changes or interpretations in tax laws, regulations or accounting principles. In addition, we are subject to the continuous examination of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service, as well as various state and foreign tax authorities. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes.
Based on our results for the year ended December 31, 2023, a one-percentage point change in our provision for income taxes as a percentage of income before taxes would have resulted in an increase or decrease in the provision of approximately $37 million, resulting in an approximate $0.07 change in diluted earnings per share.
Goodwill
The purchase price of an acquired company is allocated between intangible assets and the net tangible assets of the acquired business with the residual of the purchase price recorded as goodwill.
As of December 31, 2023, our goodwill totaled $4.3 billion. We assess the impairment of goodwill of our reporting unit annually, or more often if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is tested for impairment at the reporting unit level by first performing a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value. If the reporting unit does not pass the qualitative assessment, then the reporting unit’s carrying value is compared to its fair value. The fair value of the reporting unit is estimated using market and discounted cash flow approaches. Goodwill is considered impaired if the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value. The discounted cash flow approach uses expected future operating results. The market approach uses comparable company information to determine revenue and earnings multiples to value our reporting unit. Failure to achieve these expected results or market multiples may cause a future impairment of goodwill at the reporting unit. We conducted our annual impairment test of goodwill as of August 31, 2023 and 2022. As of December 31, 2023, we determined that no impairment of the carrying value of goodwill was required. See “Note 5 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report.
Legal Contingencies
In connection with certain pending litigation and other claims, we have estimated the range of probable loss, net of expected recoveries, and provided for such losses through charges to our consolidated statements of income. These estimates have been based on our assessment of the facts and circumstances at each balance sheet date and are subject to change based upon new information and future events.
From time to time, we are involved in disputes and regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business. We are currently involved in legal proceedings, some of which are discussed in “Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies” to the consolidated financial statements included in this report. We believe that we have meritorious defenses to the claims against us, and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously. However, even if successful, our defense against certain actions will be costly and could require significant amounts of management’s time and result in the diversion of significant operational resources. If the plaintiffs were to prevail on certain claims, we might be forced to pay significant damages and licensing fees, modify our business practices or even be prohibited from conducting a significant part of our business. Any such results could materially harm our business and could result in a material adverse impact on the financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See "Note 1 - The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" to the consolidated financial statements included in this report, regarding the impact of certain recent accounting pronouncements on our consolidated financial statements.

---

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Interest Rate Risk
We are exposed to interest rate risk relating to our investments and outstanding debt. In addition, adverse economic conditions and events (including volatility or distress in the equity and/or debt or credit markets) may impact regional and global financial markets. These events and conditions could cause us to write down our assets or investments. We seek to reduce earnings volatility that may result from adverse economic conditions and events or changes in interest rates.
The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time improving yields without significantly increasing risk. To achieve this objective, we maintain our cash equivalents, customer accounts and short-term and long-term investments in a variety of asset types, including bank deposits, government bonds and corporate debt securities. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 23% of our total cash and investments was held in cash and cash equivalents and customer accounts. As such, changes in interest rates will impact interest income. As discussed below, the fair market values of our fixed rate securities may be adversely affected due to a rise in interest rates, and we may suffer losses in principal if we are forced to sell securities that have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates.
As of December 31, 2023, the balance of our corporate debt and government bond securities was $3.1 billion, which represented approximately 29% of our total cash and investments. Investments in both fixed-rate and floating-rate interest-earning instruments carry varying degrees of interest rate risk. The fair market value of our fixed-rate investment securities may be adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates. In general, fixed-rate securities with longer maturities are subject to greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. While floating rate securities generally are subject to less interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, floating-rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates decrease and may also suffer a decline in market value if interest rates increase. Due in part to these factors, our investment income may fall short of expectations or we may suffer losses in principal if we sell securities that have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates. A hypothetical 1% (100 basis point) increase in interest rates would have resulted in a decrease in the fair value of our investments of $20 million and $22 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Further changes in interest rates will impact interest expense on any borrowings under our revolving credit facility, which bear interest at floating rates, and the interest rate on any commercial paper borrowings we make and any debt securities we may issue in the future and, accordingly, will impact interest expense. For additional details related to our debt, see “Note 11 - Debt” to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.
Equity Price Risk
Equity Investments
In 2021, we completed the transfer of our Classifieds business to Adevinta. Upon completion of the transfer we received an equity interest in Adevinta. The equity investment is accounted for under the fair value option and changes in Adevinta’s stock price and equity volatility have had a significant impact on the value of our equity investment in Adevinta. As of December 31, 2023, a hypothetical one dollar change in the fair value of one share of Adevinta’s common stock, holding other factors constant, would have increased or decreased the fair value of the investment by approximately $404 million.
Our remaining equity investments are primarily investments in privately-held companies. Our consolidated results of operations include, as a component of gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net, our share of the net income or loss of the equity investments accounted for under the equity method of accounting, or the change in fair value of the equity method investments accounted for under the fair value option. Equity investments without readily determinable fair values are accounted for at cost, less impairment and adjusted for subsequent observable price changes obtained from orderly transactions for identical or similar investments issued by the same investee. Such changes in the basis of the equity investment are recognized in gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net. Equity investments under the fair value option are measured at fair value based on a quarterly valuation analysis and are classified within Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy as the valuation reflects management’s estimate of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the equity investment. Subsequent changes in fair value are recognized in gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net.
As of December 31, 2023, our equity investments totaled $5.0 billion, which represented approximately 47% of our total cash and investments, and primarily related to our equity investment in Adevinta.
For additional details related to our investments, please see “Note 7 - Investments” to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.
Warrant
We entered into a warrant agreement in conjunction with a commercial agreement with Adyen that, subject to meeting certain conditions, entitles us to acquire a fixed number of shares up to 5% of Adyen’s fully diluted issued and outstanding share capital at a specific date. As discussed in “Note 8 - Derivative Instruments” to our consolidated financial statements included in this report, in 2021 we met the processing volume milestone target to vest the first tranche of the warrant, and we exercised the option to purchase shares of Adyen. The remaining tranches of the warrant are accounted for as a derivative instrument under ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging. Changes in Adyen’s common stock price and equity volatility may have a significant impact on the value of the warrant. As of December 31, 2023, a hypothetical one dollar change in the fair value of one share of Adyen’s common stock, holding other factors constant, would have increased or decreased the fair value of the warrant by approximately $0.4 million. For additional details related to the warrant, please see “Note 8 - Derivative Instruments” to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.
Foreign Currency Risk
Our commerce platforms operate globally, resulting in certain revenues and costs that are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the British pound and euro, subjecting us to foreign currency risk, which may adversely impact our financial results. We transact business in various foreign currencies and have significant international revenues as well as costs. In addition, we charge our international subsidiaries for their use of intellectual property and technology and for certain corporate services we provide. Our cash flow and results of operations that are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations may differ materially from expectations and we may record significant gains or losses due to foreign currency fluctuations and related hedging activities.
We have a foreign exchange exposure management program designed to identify material foreign currency exposures, manage these exposures and reduce the potential effects of currency fluctuations on our reported consolidated cash flows and results of operations through the purchase of foreign currency exchange contracts. The effectiveness of the program and resulting usage of foreign exchange derivative contracts is at times limited by our ability to achieve cash flow hedge accounting. For additional details related to our derivative instruments, please see “Note 8 - Derivative Instruments” to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.
We use foreign exchange derivative contracts to help protect our forecasted U.S. dollar-equivalent earnings from adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates. These hedging contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of adverse currency exchange rate movements. Most of these contracts are designated as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes. For qualifying cash flow hedges, the derivative’s gain or loss is initially reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income and subsequently reclassified into earnings in the same period the forecasted transaction affects earnings. For contracts not designated as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes, the derivative’s gain or loss is recognized immediately in earnings in our consolidated statement of income. However, only certain revenue and costs are eligible for cash flow hedge accounting.
The following table illustrates the fair values of outstanding foreign exchange contracts designated as cash flow hedges and foreign exchange contracts not designated for hedge accounting and the before-tax effect on fair values of a hypothetical adverse change in the foreign exchange rates that existed as of December 31, 2023. The sensitivity for foreign currency contracts is based on a 20% adverse change in foreign exchange rates, against relevant functional currencies.
Fair Value Asset/(Liability) Fair Value Sensitivity
(In millions)
Foreign exchange contracts - Cash flow hedges $ 5 $ (62)
Foreign exchange contracts - Not designated for hedge accounting $ (6) $ (74)
Since our risk management programs are highly effective, the potential loss in value described above would be largely offset by changes in the value of the underlying exposure.
We also use foreign exchange contracts to offset the foreign exchange risk on our assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of our subsidiaries. These contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements on our assets and liabilities. The foreign currency gains and losses on the assets and liabilities are recorded in interest and other, net, which are offset by the gains and losses on the foreign exchange contracts.
We considered the historical trends in currency exchange rates and determined that it was reasonably possible that adverse changes in exchange rates of 20% for all currencies could be experienced in the near term. These changes would have resulted in an immaterial adverse impact on income before income taxes as of December 31, 2023 taking into consideration the offsetting effect of foreign exchange forwards in place as of December 31, 2023.

---

ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
The consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes listed in Part IV, Item 15(a)(1) of this Annual Report on Form 10-K are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

---

ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
ITEM 9: CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.

---

ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A: CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures: Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act) required by Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(b) or 15d-15(b), our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2023.
Changes in internal controls: There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f)) identified in connection with the evaluation required by Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(d) or 15d-15(d) that occurred during our most recently completed fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Management’s annual report on internal control over financial reporting: Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on its evaluation under the framework in Internal Control - Integrated Framework, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023.
The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears in Item 15(a)1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

---

ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B: OTHER INFORMATION
Not applicable.

---

ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10: DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the year ended December 31, 2023.
Code of Ethics, Governance Guidelines and Committee Charters
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to all eBay employees and directors. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is posted on our website at https://investors.ebayinc.com/corporate-governance/governance-documents/. We will post any amendments to or waivers from the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics at that location.
We have also adopted Governance Guidelines for the Board of Directors and a written committee charter for each of our Audit Committee, Compensation and Human Capital Committee and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. Each of these documents is available on our website at https://investors.ebayinc.com/corporate-governance/governance-documents/.

---

ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11: EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the year ended December 31, 2023.

---

ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12: SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the year ended December 31, 2023.

---

ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13: CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the year ended December 31, 2023.

---

ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14: PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the year ended December 31, 2023.
PART IV

---

ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15: EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULE
a.The following documents are filed as part of this report:
Page Number
1. Consolidated Financial Statements:
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID 238)
Consolidated Balance Sheet 62
Consolidated Statement of Income 63
Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 64
Consolidated Statement of Stockholders’ Equity 65
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 66
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 68
2. Financial Statement Schedule
Schedule II - Valuation and Qualifying Accounts 121
All other schedules have been omitted because the information required to be set forth therein is not applicable or is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.
3. Exhibits Required by Item 601 of Regulation S-K
The information required by this Item is set forth in the Index to Exhibits that precedes the signature page of this Annual Report. 122
b.The information required by this Item is set forth in the Index to Exhibits that precedes the signature page of this Annual Report.
c.Financial Statement Schedule and Separate Financial Statements of Subsidiaries Not Consolidated and
Fifty Percent or Less Owned Persons
Adevinta was deemed a significant equity investee under Rule 3-09 of Regulation S-X for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2021 (though not for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022). As such, financial statements of Adevinta for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, are required to be filed by amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K within six months of Adevinta’s fiscal year end. Accordingly, Adevinta’s financial statements for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 will be filed via an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K on or before June 30, 2024.