posted on August 22, 2008 07:31:36 AM new
Interesting... from Michael Shedlock's commentary:
nsiders Bailing As Fast As Possible
Meg Whitman is bailing as fast as humanly possible.
Shareholders of eBay have lost money for three straight years, while insiders grant themselves massive amount of options, only to bail on the the second they acquire them. In one paired transaction on May 14-15 2008, Whitman made a cool $6+ million in a day.
Since January 2005, eBay has fallen from $59 to $25, a drop of 57.6%. Sadly, the stock is still massively over-priced given that it is neither a value play or a growth play. Worse yet for eBay is that consumer sentiment towards consumption has hit a secular peak. The bottom in sentiment is years, perhaps even a decade away.
This is not a recommendation to sell or short eBay. My interest in this is from a macro perspective. From that perspective, frugality has hit eBay and profits have only one way to go, and that is down. This is just as one would expect in deflation.
