 eBay CEO Takes Jabs at Amazon and Wal-Mart
 eBay CEO John Donahoe came out swinging at companies competing with eBay when the topic came up during a Q&A session at Shop.org's annual summit taking place in Las Vegas this week. He told Patti Freeman Evans, Vice President and Research Director at Forrester Research, "eBay is not a retailer. We will never be a retailer. We will not compete with our sellers."
"We are not going to buy a shoe retailer, for instance. We aren't going to develop private label products. We are not going to use the data on our marketplace to compete or give to other sellers. We are going to be a marketplace that will not compete with its sellers." The statement was an obvious reference to Amazon.com, which some Amazon third-party merchants feel have taken advantage of their sales data to compete against them.
He went on to say, "When I read about Wal-Mart's third-party marketplace, it struck me that the great news is that Wal-Mart has a great history of cooperating with other businesses to help those other businesses succeed. It's deeply in their genetics." The remark was obviously sarcastic, given complaints Main Street brick-and-mortar retailers have made against the giant retailer. And while the audience laughed and there was some applause, it's pretty certain the Wal-Mart executives in the crowd were not amused.
Donahoe told the audience that he understood they might build marketplace businesses, but all he could say is that if they sell on eBay, it would not compete with their businesses.
Having seen John give presentations to crowds before, I was surprised by the self-assured confidence and ease with which he spoke. Either he feels more comfortable presenting to executives from branded retailers than with eBay users, or he has grown more comfortable in public speaking in the last year.
I'll likely be posting a few snippets of video from John's keynote address in a few days, along with more impressions of Shop.org, so stay tuned.
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