Case Name :      eBay, Inc. (A)

Authors :           Michael J. Schill, Jason Burnett

Source :             Darden School of Business

Case ID :           UV2497

Discipline :        Finance

Case Length :    15 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

This case examines the Fall 1998 decision of eBay management to proceed with the company’s initial public offering during the quietest IPO market in twenty years. In Case A, eBay’s Chief Financial Officer considers the financial and competitive implications of delaying the offering, as well as the challenge of fairly pricing the shares of an emerging unseasoned Internet stock. The case provides an excellent forum for students to discuss the costs and benefits of going public. Case B reviews the events of eBay’s first trading day and the associated 160 percent return on the shares. With such a backdrop, students are exposed to one of the well-known finance anomalies–the IPO underpricing phenomenon–and are invited to critically discuss various proposed explanations.