New Era at eBay Includes Absent CEO, Turmoil

Online auction site eBay is sailing into new, perhaps troubled waters, reports Wired, as users write angry letters to newspapers, its CEO-in-waiting--John Donahoe--disses the site as a flea market, and CEO and founder Meg Whitman follows the campaign trail behind presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Yet, in a down market, its shares are up 6% on the year.

Investors are mixed on eBay’s outlook. Some, like one Cantor Fitzgerald analyst, feel eBay is “far from fixing its problems.” Others, like venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, say eBay is poised for growth through expanding markets like Internet telephony. "eBay for services will one day be a bigger opportunity than the eBay for physical goods,” Jurvetson said. (More eBay stories.)