Ebay today reported a big net loss due to a write-down that it said masked strong quarterly performance in auctions.
The third-quarter net loss of $936 million compared with a year-ago profit of $281 million. The loss stemmed from a $1.39 billion write-down on Ebay's takeover of Internet phone service Skype.
Excluding that and other one-time items, the world's largest online auctioneer and payments company posted an adjusted profit of $564 million, representing a 53 per cent rise over a year ago.
Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan said the need to invest in new business and rapid growth in lower-margin businesses like Skype and online payments service Paypal could hurt margins overall.
Third-quarter revenue rose 30 per cent to $1.89 billion, topping the current range of quarterly Wall Street forecasts.