eBay Income Rises by 24 Percent in Q4 2010

eBay posted solid financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010, with big gains in both revenue and net income. Q4 revenue was $2.5 billion with a net income of $559.2 million. Earnings per share were above market expectations.

"We delivered a strong fourth quarter and a solid year, driven by our customer focus, commitment to technology-led innovation and our operating discipline, which is enabling us to reinvest in growth," John Donahoe, eBay CEO, said in a statement.

"We are driving strong global growth at PayPal and strengthening our core eBay business. And we are innovating quickly in areas such as mobile, which is helping to position us at the forefront of trends shaping the future of shopping and payments," he added.

Revenue grew by five percent in the last quarter of 2010, or 10 percent if excluding Skype revenue in Q4 2009. eBay sold the VoIP service in the third quarter of 2009 to a number of private investors.

Non-GAAP net income was $683.8 million, $0.52 per share, above the expected $0.47 per share, a 24 percent increase over the the previous year, excluding Skype.

Yearly revenue was up 13 percent from 2009 reaching $9.2 billion. GAAP net income was $1.8 billion, amounting to $1.36 per share. Non-GAAP net income was $2.3 billion, $1.73 per share.

The company's flagship business was PayPal yet again, fast approaching eBay's Marketplaces section, the main auctions site. PayPal revenue in Q4 was up 22 percent, rising to $971 million, half of it coming from outside the US. For the full year, revenue was $3,4 billion, 23 percent higher than in Q4 2009.

$26.9 billion in payments were processed by PayPal which ended the year with 94.4 million active users. Marketplaces had a full year revenue of $5.7 billion, an eight percent increase. Quarterly revenue was $1.5 billion, only a four percent increase.