eBay 2001 Annual Report Download - page 3

Our balance sheet is equally strong. We now have more than $1.1 billion in cash and investments,
which not only gives us a great deal of Ñnancial security, but also the ability to accelerate the vision of the
company and the success of our users going forward.
Perhaps what sets our business model apart from practically all others is its ability to produce
increasing returns on the income statement and generate tremendous amounts of cash. In our marketplace
model, investments in growth Öow directly through the income statement, leaving minimal amounts
capitalized on the balance sheet to be amortized in future periods. The combination of our powerful
business model and a strong, sustainable top-line outlook has made eBay one of the strongest young
companies in recent history.
The World's Online Marketplace
Simply put Ì eBay is a marketplace manager. Our mission is to build an online marketplace that
enables practically anyone to trade practically anything almost anywhere in the world.
eBay's marketplace makes it fun, easy, safe and eÇcient for buyers and sellers to connect through
shared areas of interest and commerce transactions. Trading is part of the human experience, and eBay
enables sellers to expose their products to a local, national, and increasingly global, base of millions of
buyers, who in turn have access to the broadest and most interesting range of goods in the history of
commerce. Leveraging eBay's trading platform, sellers are able to achieve higher sales and proÑts than
through alternative sales channels, and buyers have an unparalleled ability to Ñnd what they want, often at
a signiÑcant value.
In many ways, this marketplace has evolved into a dynamic and self-regulating economy all its own.
Like any healthy market, the eBay economy is shaped by its millions of customers who instantly act on
changes in economic conditions and trading trends every day, expanding the business across geographies,
categories, buying formats, types of users and services. As the manager of this global marketplace, our job
is to create the right environment for our users' success, which we accomplish through maintaining an
unparalleled level of transparency, fairness, eÇciency and trust.
Our Future
We at eBay are tremendously excited about the future. As the year 2002 unfolds, you will see
continued commitment to growing the business and helping our users become even more successful.
Helping our categories grow is central to our role as marketplace manager. Our goal is to develop
each category according to its potential and the industry it serves. New categories, such as home & garden,
real estate and tickets & travel, will be nurtured, and existing categories, such as autos, collectibles,
computers and consumer electronics, will be deepened. We plan to attract greater supply from a wide
range of volume sellers, and grow marketplace demand through activating buyers. Marketing and online
merchandising, as well as an integrated Ñxed price oÅering, will help bring in new users and motivate
current ones, and encourage them all to trade frequently across multiple categories.
International expansion has become an important driver of our growth. We are conÑdent that the
international business can deliver even greater proÑtability as our newer operations in Europe begin to
show accelerating growth and opportunities for generating revenues. Following our proven strategy in
Germany, we plan to expand categories, trading formats and services in each market to help local trade
Öourish. And our recent acquisition in Taiwan and investment in China will allow us to extend our
marketplace into thriving new e-commerce markets in Asia.
The user experience also impacts growth, and we plan to make trading on eBay even faster, easier and
safer. Providing our users with more features, tools and services can help them better use the site, trade
more often and, ultimately, become even more successful. Investing in state-of-the-art technology is part of
this goal, as we build the platform for tomorrow's growth.
These strategic investments are critical to fulÑlling the promise of a global trading platform. At the
same time, balancing investment for the future while driving increased proÑt to the bottom line has always
been a consistent theme at eBay. The investments we make today are designed to bear fruit in the years