EBay’s active buyers declined 2%

EBay Inc. reported a decline in active buyers in the latest quarter and projected lower-than-expected revenue in the current quarter, in another sign of softening e-commerce trends.

The online marketplace reported 159 million active buyers for the June quarter, a 2% decline from a year earlier. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, active buyers had grown by a mid- to high single-digit percentage each quarter.

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The company also said it expected revenue from continuing operations of $2.42 billion to $2.47 billion in the current quarter, with an organic growth rate of 6% to 8%. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $2.49 billion.

E-commerce saw massive growth following the onset of the pandemic early last year as homebound folks turned to the internet for their shopping needs. That growth, however, has started to show signs of slowing.

In a call with analysts, eBay Chief Executive Jamie Iannone said the company saw a slowdown when compared with the tremendous growth initially seen in 2020, which was driven by the onset of the pandemic. The marketplace is still seeing positive growth when compared with before the pandemic, he said.

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EBay isn’t providing full-year guidance in part because of the uncertainty that remains as the pandemic continues, Chief Financial Officer Steve Priest said.

Last month, Amazon.com Inc. reported sales slightly below what analysts were expecting, with finance chief Brian Olsavsky saying that he expects the trend to continue as the economy reopens and sales stabilize from outsize growth earlier in the pandemic.

For the second quarter, eBay reported net revenue of $2.67 billion, compared with $2.34 billion a year earlier. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting $2.63 billion.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
EBAY	EBAY INC.	51.26	+0.32	+0.63%

"Revenue growth was driven by the acceleration in our payments migration and growth in advertising," Chief Executive Jamie Iannone said.

In July 2020, eBay’s operating agreement with its former unit PayPal Holdings Inc. ended, and since then the company has been migrating payments onto its own platform.

For the second quarter, eBay reported earnings of $10.73 billion, compared with $746 million a year earlier. Most of the company’s profit was from discontinued operations. Adjusted earnings from continuing operations were 99 cents a share. Analysts were expecting 96 cents a share.

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In late June, the company said it was selling an approximately 80% stake in its Korea businesses to E-Mart Inc. The deal was expected to give eBay about $3 billion in gross cash proceeds. The Korean businesses were considered discontinued operations in the latest quarter.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com