Main Pitch: To help practically anyone buy and sell practically anything.
What it means: When they say "anything," they are serious: People come to eBay to buy and sell items such as automobiles, jewelry, musical instruments, cameras, computers, furniture, sporting goods, concert tickets, boats and even IT equipment. Under Whitman, eBay has expanded the range of service offerings to include various online payment-processing services and Web-enabled e-commerce activities.
VARBusiness' View: eBay is one of the brightest spots in the overall dot-bomb landscape. Last year, the company generated $9 billion in gross sales, its best year ever. The company has been profitable, and its 42 million sellers and buyers (nearly double its 2,000 customer base) keep coming back for trading the contents of their garages and attics, some with thriving businesses doing so. One reason is due to the company's simple message: Our business can help you. Even people who don't use eBay now can see its virtue. Chances are, that will someday make them customers. The downside for the channel, however, is that the organization has been getting a lot closer to vendors such as Sun, who are using the service as a vehicle to sell old and used merchandise directly to the customer.
Gary Bloom, Veritas Software
Joseph Tucci, EMC
Sanjay Kumar, Computer Associates
John Thompson, Symantec
Alfred Chuang, BEA Systems
Larry Ellison, Oracle
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