Word: ebay
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Still, today eBay is one of the most dazzling sites on the Internet. Log on and feast your eyes on a global garage sale that includes--well, just about any inanimate object you've ever seen, heard of or lusted after. That Partridge Family lunch box that made you feel like the Man in third grade? The bidding starts at $5. That Art Deco clock you always wanted? There were recently 19 of them being auctioned on eBay. Sure there's kitsch (Elvis snow globes, anyone?), and a scary number of Beanie Babies. But there's also luxe (usually...
...eBay is also one of the Internet's greatest financial success stories. It has defied the 11th Commandment: Internet Start-Ups Shall Bleed Red Ink. It's made money from its first month of operation. After only four years, eBay is worth some $20 billion--more than Sears and J.C. Penney combined--and its stock price has surged 25-fold. The rewards for the key players have been lavish. Whitman, after less than two years at the company, controls shares worth about $1 billion. Skoll's net worth is more than $3 billion. Omidyar's 30% ownership adds...
...eBay succeeded so wildly? A big factor is that eBay was first on the block, locking in buyers and sellers early. The more people flocked to eBay, the more it became the place to be. But the real genius of eBay is its success in building a community--"maybe the most real community on the entire Web," says Whitman. There's no question people like hanging out in eBayland. The site gets more than 1.5 billion page visits a month. And at a time when the Internet mantra is "stickiness"--how long users stay on a website--eBay is cyberspace...
...eBay--and the online-auction phenomenon it has spawned--is redrawing America's business landscape. There's scarcely a company in America that won't be affected by the new rules of commercial engagement. "Every week someone will come up to you and say this has changed my business entirely, and you can fill in the blank for what business," says eBay vice president of marketing and business development Steve Westly. "A guy came up to me at the National Auctioneers Association and said, 'I'm in the bull-semen business, and eBay's completely changed the access I have...
...everyone is going to win in the new eBay economy. Hardest hit so far are antiques and collectibles shows, which aggregate items like eBay does, but less efficiently. Joe Spotts, president of L&S Management, owns two shows--one in Denver, the other in Kansas City, Mo.--and he says the number of vendors at both has slid 30% in the past 18 months. And eBay is the reason. "It has the potential of absolutely destroying the business," says Spotts. "I've seen several shows around the country that are near shutting down." Flea markets could be the next...