Today we are watching…
1. eBay (#ebay)
eBay has put its ticket exchange subsidiary, Stubhub, up for auction, and several interested bidders have already approached! eBay investors have had a year to remember, streaking ahead of the market with 45% gains so far. eBay’s management, however, has had a different kind of roller coaster. Elliot Management and Starboard Value, two high-flying activist firms, bought enough eBay stock to seize control of the e-commerce old dog and force through changes to get the stock price up. One fundamental part of that effort has been to shed excess weight, which the company now identifies as Stubhub. Optimistic market players expect a deal to be wrapped up soon, but they shouldn’t count their chickens yet!
2. Facebook (#fb)
Over 200 million Facebook users have their relationship status set as single. The social media giant wants to change that! Zuckerberg is making an inevitable move in investors’ eyes and living up to his company’s motto to “move fast and break things,” by trying to coax the world into using his new ‘Dating’ feature. He’s armed with the world’s greatest competitive advantage, a database of inside info about over a billion users. Still, some in the market feel he needed to rebuild a bit more trust before launching into this viciously competitive market. Data breaches have left a stain on Facebook’s reputation, so the likes of Match, who own Tinder and OkCupid, may not be so worried. This is something Facebook investors will hear a lot more about in the coming months!
