So far this year, there are hopeful signs for the IPO market. Some of the standout offerings include Changyou (NASDAQ: CYOU) and Medidata (NASDAQ: MDSO).

Now, investors are waiting for other deals. Facebook? Twitter?

Or, how about Skype? In fact, the website's parent, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), has indicated its intention to take it public.

Continue reading Skype IPO on the rocks?

Skype IPO on the rocks? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A wonderful 19th century writer offered observations in print from time to time. He remains one of our nation's best role models and minds, so accordingly the following economic insights and observations are offered, With Malice Toward None.

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First, why does it look like in this market all of good long plays have been bid-up to $47, and all short plays are trading near $8?

Continue reading Tidbits of Americans' economic insights and observations

Tidbits of Americans' economic insights and observations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 May 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Craigslist is on the receiving end of an avalanche of bad publicity in the wake of the Boston University Medical School murders. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is threatening to charge the company with aiding and abetting prostitution if an ad on the site leads to a prostitution arrest in his state.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster is bucking McMaster, complaining on his company's blog that the company is being unfairly targeted. "Seriously?" he writes. "The craigslist adult services section for Greenville, SC, has a total of one ad for the last three days, featuring a photograph of a fully clothed person. The 'erotic services' section for Greenville, which we recently closed, has eight ads total which will expire in two days, and even for these ads the images and text are quite tame."

Continue reading Craigslist says it's unfairly targeted -- and it's right

Craigslist says it's unfairly targeted -- and it's right originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 May 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay: Almost an 'empty shoe box' play

eBay: Almost an 'empty shoe box' play originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 May 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay wins a round in L'Oreal legal battle

eBay wins a round in L'Oreal legal battle originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 May 2009 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported strong Q1 results easily beat expectations.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings, helped by home refinancing.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) reported its first quarterly loss since 1992 and cut its revenue outlook.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) posted Q1 earnings that were in line with expectations, but shares fell.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings despite a decline in sales.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Bank of America, Amazon, Coke, eBay, UPS, Yahoo!, IBM, and more

Earnings highlights: Bank of America, Amazon, Coke, eBay, UPS, Yahoo!, IBM, and more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Trying To Find Direction (AAPL, EBAY, JBLU, GM, VMW, UPS, EMC)

Closing Bell: Trying To Find Direction (AAPL, EBAY, JBLU, GM, VMW, UPS, EMC) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From TheStreet.com Network

• eBay Bid Up as Buyers Dig Results
• For Apple, the Beat Goes On

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: It's go with the flow on tech stocks

Cramer on BloggingStocks: It's go with the flow on tech stocks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks poised for higher start on Apple, tech earnings

Before the bell: Stocks poised for higher start on Apple, tech earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay jumps following first quarter earnings

eBay jumps following first quarter earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay (EBAY) first quarter earnings preview

eBay (EBAY) first quarter earnings preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) closed at $14.29. EBAY is scheduled to report Q1 EPS after the market close today. EBAY May option implied volatility of 56 is below its 26-week average of 61, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) closed at $46.09. AMGN Q1 EPS are expected on April 24. AMGN's Denosumab for treatment/prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis and for bone loss in prostrate or breast cancer patients on hormone ablation therapy has a FDA action date of October 19. AMGN May and July option implied volatility of 44 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: eBay and Amgen volatility low into events originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Even though most states require their residents to pay sales tax on internet purchases, none have figured out how to enforce it, and companies such as Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) have benefited hugely by the public's perception of the 6-10% cost advantage they realize by not paying the tax.

Not surprisingly, states suffering from tax shortfalls are screaming foul, and Washington is listening. According to the New York Post, a bill could be introduced this week to put the burden of tax collection on internet retailers.

The U.S. census estimated that in 2008 retail sales hit $103 billion dollars. If we assume that local taxes will also be included in the bill, at 8% roughly $8.25 billion should have flowed into state and local coffers. Amazon alone, with sales of $19 billion, could have collected $1.52 billion. According to the Rockefeller Institute, during the recession sales taxes collected by the states have dropped by 6.1%, the worst decline in half a century.

Continue reading Amazon, eBay, other e-retailers may be forced to collect sales tax

Amazon, eBay, other e-retailers may be forced to collect sales tax originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For some time, I've used PayPal, which is owned by eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). For example, I recently paid a contractor in India using the service. It was extremely easy.

Well, I had a chance to talk to the Small Biz folks at PayPal and found out that there is much more to the service. In fact, PayPal can be a great way to boost your business.

Of course, PayPal makes it easy to leverage ecommerce. And the costs are competitive, with transaction fees ranging from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent, plus a 30 cent fee. What's more, there is no need to get a merchant account (which can be a painful and expensive process).

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: How using PayPal can boost revenues

Entrepreneur's Journal: How using PayPal can boost revenues originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has been trying to figure out what to do about its failed acquisition of Skype and the company has finally come up with a solution -- sort of.

In a press release, the company said that it plans to spin-off Skype sometime in the first half of 2010.

"Skype is a great stand-alone business with strong fundamentals and accelerating momentum," CEO John Donahoe said. "But it's clear that Skype has limited synergies with eBay and PayPal. We believe operating Skype as a stand-alone publicly traded company is the best path for maximizing its potential. This will give Skype the focus and resources required to continue its growth and effectively compete in online voice and video communications. In addition, separating Skype will allow eBay to focus entirely on our two core growth engines-e-commerce and online payments-and deliver long-term value to our stockholders."

Continue reading eBay announces spin-off for Skype

eBay announces spin-off for Skype originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As for M&A, eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY) strategy has been mostly helter-skelter. In some cases, the deals were brilliant, such as for PayPal. But in other cases, the transactions have been wacky.

Well, it looks like eBay is cleaning up the M&A mess. And the first action-item: getting rid of StumbleUpon.

In the overall scheme of things, the transaction wasn't very material -- coming to $75 million (two years ago). But the site - which allows for the recommendation of sites -- did have lots of traffic and some brand in the marketplace. Under eBay's control, Stumbleupon increased registered users from 2.5 million to 7.5 million. What's more, the site plans to launch some new features, such as a search engine and a Twitter-friendly URL shortener.

Continue reading eBay's spring cleaning includes StumbleUpon

eBay's spring cleaning includes StumbleUpon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's universally believed that eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) overpaid badly for its $3.1 billion acquisition of Skype, a revolutionary online phone company that, regardless of how cool it happens to be, doesn't generate a lot of income or fit with eBay's core business in any meaningful way.

When Meg Whitman retired as CEO, John Donahoe replaced her and has said repeatedly that he is open to selling Skype.

Continue reading Skype founders look to make a deal with eBay

Skype founders look to make a deal with eBay originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There could be an opportunity to tweak the way we pay CEOs of big public companies. I hope this doesn't sound too harsh. But when you consider that the average 2008 compensation for the 10 highest paid public company CEOs was $40.7 million, while their companies lost half, or $30 billion, worth of their stock market value -- I wonder whether some change may be in order.

The year 2008 put a big exclamation mark on, hopefully, the end of an eight-year sentence of stabbing common shareholders in the back. Of the 10 highest paid CEOs, here are the four who destroyed the most stock market value while getting well above average pay. The companies are listed in descending order of the percentage destruction in stock market value, along with the CEO's 2008 compensation and loss in stock market capitalization:

• Citigroup (NYSE: C) paid CEO Vikram Pandit $38.2 million while its stock fell 78% destroying $124 billion in stock market value
• Motorola (NYSE: MOT) CEO Sanjay Jha made $104 million while overseeing a 75% stock plunge which wiped out $27.9 billion in stock market value

Continue reading Pay for performance? Try pay for failure: CEOs paid millions to lose billions

Pay for performance? Try pay for failure: CEOs paid millions to lose billions originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Skype expands business internet telephone service offering

Skype expands business internet telephone service offering originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Claw-backs are bears, not bonuses (AXP, AIG, C, EBAY, SPWRA)

Closing Bell: Claw-backs are bears, not bonuses (AXP, AIG, C, EBAY, SPWRA) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.