If you think eBay is just an auctions site, think again. The company's recent moves show that it has larger ambitions.

In a span of one month, eBay shelled out US$2.6 billion to acquire popular Internet communications company Skype. The company hopes to expand its offerings and footprint, which no doubt will be enhanced by the 54 million registered Skype users in over 220 locations worldwide.

The dust had barely settled when eBay made the headlines again by signing a US$370 million deal with e-commerce provider VeriSign for the latter's online payments services. Under the agreement, VeriSign will become eBay's "preferred security vendor" while eBay is committed to buying up to a million security tokens from VeriSign in 2006.

While some detractors point out that eBay's moves were merely to boost sluggish growth, the company is commendable, nonetheless, for pushing the boundaries and aiming for greater heights. Started only 10 years ago, the company today boasts of 157 million registered users worldwide and an average of 5 million new items are listed everyday on its Web sites.

Editor's note: eBay was not a nominee of the Top Tech 50 Index because the company is only starting to be a key player in the business segment with its recent moves.

Financials

Fiscal year-end Dec	FY05	FY04	FY03	FY02	FY01
Global full-year revenue (US$millions)	—	3,271.3	2,165.1	1,214.1	748.2
Global full-year net income (US$millions)	—	778.2	441.8	249.9	90.4

Average year-on-year revenue growth over 4 years	63.9 %
Average year-on-year net income growth over 4 years	109.8 %
Percentage of revenue from Asia	—
Percentage of Asian revenues from channel	—

Operations:

Founded	United States of America/1995
First Asian office	—
Global employees	8,900
Employees in Asia	—
Asian countries	—
Notes	Data correct as at September 2005. Information was compiled by ZDNet Asia from sources such as official reports, corporate Web sites, and Hoover's. ZDNet Asia strived to get the latest information but does not guarantee the correctness or completeness of the data. The information provided on this site is for general informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell any securities.

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