Thomas Lee buyout firm in lead for Ebay Enterprise

         
Boston-based buyout firm Thomas H. Lee was reported by Reuters to be in the lead for King of Prussia-based Ebay Enterprise, originally GSI Commerce.

The price was said to. be in the $1 billion range, although price negotiations were still
irn a state of flux.



A key Ebay Enterprise client,TOYS R US, just announced it was planning to
move its ecommerce operations inhouse.

Links 2/4/2015: FCC Chair proposes net neutrality regs; Ebay Enterprise shares in job cuts, but gains part of corporate innovation unit

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Taboola Gets $117M From Comcast, Other Strategics To Boost Its Content Recommendation Platform (TechCrunch)

The head of the FCC just proposed the strongest net neutrality rules ever (Washington Post)


Analyst: Why Comcast-TWC Won’t Get Approved (Multichannel News)

eBay’s Innovation and New Ventures Group Hit Hard by Layoffs in Restructuring (Re/code)
Some of it transferred to Ebay Enterprise.

Spurned data center sues college, seeks $200M (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


Phorum 2015 Announces Call for Demo Pit Participants (Business Wire)

Blackboard to acquire K-12 ed-tech company (Washington Business Journal)
Schoolwires is based in State College.

SAP's Plattner: How S/4Hana Simplifies ERP (Information Week)

SAP Co-Founder Plattner Bets the Company With a New Database (Re/code)



How SAP Missed An Opportunity (Esteban Kolsky / Enterprise Irregulars)

The 25 Year History of Lotus Notes (Alan Lepofsky / Constellation Research)

Cognizant's Big Bet On Health-Care Vertical Paying Off, Earnings Show (CRN)

Ebay to explore sale or IPO of King of Prussia-based Ebay Enterprise unit (formerly GSI Commerce)

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

GSI Commerce becomes part of Ebay, June 2011

Ebay said today in conjunction with its earnings announcement that it may explore a sale or an IPO of its Ebay Enterprise unit, which is based in King of Prussia.

Ebay acquired the company, then known as GSI Commerce, in March 2011 for $2.4 billion in debt and cash. GSI founder Michael Rubin, who started selling sporting goods as a teenager in Devon, retained stakes in Fanatics (a phenomenal success), ShopRunner (a high valuation) and Rue La La (perhaps less successful) as part of his Conshohocken-based Kynectic LLC holding company.

Ebay tried to position the unit, later renamed Ebay Enterprise, as part of its overall strategy, though progress was hindered by several factors, including the insider trading conviction of former Rubin deputy and GSI Commerce/Ebay Enterprise CEO Christopher Saridakis in 2014 and the pressure on Ebay to split up.

There are 2800 Ebay Enterprise employees on LinkedIn, but the number varies dramatically seasonally.

Ecommerce software unit Magento was also folded into Ebay Enterprise under Ebay.

Ebay also announced today plans to cut 2,400 positions across all divisions of the company.

Links 6/25/2014: eBay names IBM vet to head Enterprise unit; ShopRunner to work with Alibaba on China deliveries

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


eBay Names Outsider to Head Its Enterprise Unit (EcommerceBytes)

Alibaba/ShopRunner Let Chinese Tap U.S. Brand Sites
(Investor's Business Daily)

Radnor-based Laboratory supplies provider VWR Corp files for IPO (Reuters)


Cloud BI – genuine trend or marketing exercise? (Diginomica)

Google Introduces Android TV, Its New Platform For Smart TV Apps And Navigation (TechCrunch)

The Father of Net Neutrality Returns to Do Battle With Comcast (Wired)


Is Warby Parker Too Good to Last?
(Wired)

Philadelphia CIOs Reveal Hiring Plans For Second Half Of 2014 (PR Newswire)

Links 6/24/2014: NBCU's integrated ad sales approach paying off?

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



How a zombie VC firm broke pay-to-play rules (Fortune)

Le Cirque Software Need Helps Prompt Oracle’s Micros Deal (Bloomberg)

Sens. Raise Comcast/TWC Hearing Concerns With FCC, Justice (Multichannel News)

AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/TWC mergers could put small ISPs “out of business” (Ars Technica)

Report: Verizon, Comcast CDN strategies target OTT players
(FierceOnlineVideo)

NBC Books $2.52 Billion in Upfront Commitments, 12 Percent Gain (Hollywood Reporter)

NBCU Unorthodox Ad Plan Spans Broadcast, Cable, Web (Investor's Business Daily)


eBay Inc. Names Craig Hayman as Head of eBay Enterprise (Business Wire)

CIA Information Chief Talks Cloud Computing, Culture Clash at Amazon Event (Re/code)

Bell and Howell spins off software division (Raleigh News & Observer)
Philadelphia private equity firm Versa Capital Management, which acquired Bell and Howell in 2011, now also owns a controlling interest in both BCC and Bell and Howell.
Versa Capital has paid off Bell and Howell’s outstanding debt.

Saridakis resigns as head of eBay Enterprise "for personal reasons"

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Chris Saridakis has resigned as the head of King of Prussia-based eBay Enterprise for personal reasons, according to an eBay press release.

The announcement and its timing are somewhat surprising, given that eBay Enterprise (formerly GSI Commerce) appeared to be playing an increasingly central role within eBay's overall strategy, with Saridakis having a very visible role as part of eBay's management team.

Saridakis had served as president of eBay Enterprise since June 2011, after eBay acquired GSI Commerce (renamed eBay Enterprise in 2013), where he was part of that company’s management team. Prior to GSI Commerce he had headed up PointRoll.

Tobias Hartmann, vice president, Omnichannel Operations and International, will serve as interim head of eBay Enterprise while an external search is conducted for a permanent successor, the company said in its statement.

More from USA Today , citing sources suggesting that slower than expected growth at the unit may have been a factor behind the departure.

Links 12/10/2013: Comcast expands Silicon Valley Innovation Center

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Verizon's McAdam: New FiOS markets are not in the cards (FierceTelecom)

Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia Says Company Selling Out Capacity in Some Cities (Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast Expands Silicon Valley Innovation Center to Foster Collaboration and Continued Product Innovation (PR Newswire)

Time Warner CEO Bewkes: Only Comcast and Verizon Do VOD Right (Variety)

Here’s how AT&T is going to build its gigabit service in Austin (Gigaom)


Norcross doubles holdings in Philly newspapers (AP via Philly.com)




SAP partners with Vancouver health care data startup (IT World
Canada)

Oracle becomes sponsor of OpenStack Foundation (PC World)


Magento offers retailers more services as part of eBay Enterprise
(Internet Retailer)


Philadelphia CIOs Reveal 2014 Hiring Plans
Robert Half Technology Survey Finds Continued IT Hiring (PR Newswire)

Business, money, politics in Delaware - I and II (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Links 10/7/2013: Urban Outfitters plans 2500 more PA jobs

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Autobytel Acquires Advanced Mobile to Provide Leading Mobile Capabilities to Automotive Manufacturers and Dealerships (Business Wire)
Advanced Mobile is based in King of Prussia.

Urban Outfitters expansion means 2,500 jobs in PA (Philadelphia Business Journal)


eBay Enterprise Launches Alliance Network to Drive Commerce (EBay Enterprise)

Verizon Picks AMD’s SeaMicro Servers to Create New Cloud (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

Judge rules for Amazon Web Services over IBM in CIA cloud case (Federal Computer Week)


Time Warner Cable Agrees to Acquire DukeNet for $600 Million (Bloomberg)

Comcast Recovers From Brief ‘X1’ Outage (Multichannel News)

Amazon recruits variety of apps for set-top box, report says
(CNET News)

Big Data, Faster Clinical Trials (Information Week)
Merck teams up with Israeli company.

Analysis: IT experts question architecture of Obamacare website (Reuters)


Wall Street skittish on growing threat to IBM's SaaS, cloud (ZDNet)

PayPal, along with EBay Enterprise, tests Amazon Prime competitor; ShopRunner says not involved

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

EBay's PayPal is testing (for a limited time for now, anyway) an Amazon Prime-like service offering two day shipping, in conjunction with King of Prussia-based EBay Enterprise. In fact, many (perhaps most) of the merchants shown as being involved in the trial peiod are EBay Enterprise customers.

My first thought upon hearing this was that Amazon Prime competitor ShopRunner, which is partially based in Conshohocken, must be involved. After all, EBay owns a considerable stake in ShopRunner (thought to be 30% before Alibaba's reported $70-75 million investment in August, which may have diluted that percentage) and ShopRunner's CEO is former PayPal Pesident Scott Thompson. And ShopRunner is part of GSI Commerce founder Michael Rubin's Kynetic LLC. Rubin, of course, sold GSI Commerce, recently rebranded as EBay Enterprise, to EBay two years ago. It would all make sense, wouldn't it? Why reinvent the wheel?

Except there is no connection as of now, according to ShopRunner. In response to my question on that issue, I received the following statement from ShopRunner chief strategy officer Fiona Dias, herself a former top executive at GSI Commerce:

"ShopRunner is not involved, but we are big fans of 2 day shipping. It’s a real driver of customer satisfaction and retailer sales. We believe it’s something that drives consumer preference and loyalty and, as such, think it should be an ongoing benefit that retailers provide their best customers.”

Of course, another issue here could be that EBay may see Alibaba as a competitor, at least in parts of the world. China-based Alibaba, which is moving towards a huge US IPO, has a payment service named Alipay that competes with PayPal in some countries.

More on this as it develops.

Links 8/23/2013: Ballmer leaving as Microsoft CEO in a year

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Technology company expands in Chester County (Philadelphia Business Journal)

For Ballmer, Resistance Was Futile (All Things D)

Ballmer Exit Leaves Microsoft Searching for Hero in Slump
(Bloomberg)

Microsoft's Ballmer on his biggest regret, the next CEO and more (Mary Jo Foley/ZDNet)

SAP licensing – more clarity or clear as mud? (Dennis Howlett/Diginomica)

Wawa Turns to SAP to Power Entry Into New Markets (Convenience Store News)

SAP Channel Exec Explains ByDesign Issues and Future (Accounting Today)


QVC Launches Second Linear Channel
QVC Plus Counts DirecTV, Bright House as Affiliates (Multichannel News)

Newgistics adds e-commerce to its fulfillment services (Internet Retailer)
Positioning itself as full-service competitor to eBay Enterprise (formerly GSI Commerce).

Penn Brings Two Coding Contests Together with HACKFest (Penn News)

Philadelphia's QLIDA Diagnostics developing next-generation biomarker diagnostics (Keystone Edge)

GSI Commerce renamed eBay Enterprise

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

Today, eBay announced that it had rebranded its King of Prussia-based GSI Commerce unit as eBay Enterprise, two years after acquiring it.

Looking through eBay Enterprise President Chris Saridakis' statement on its website, I don't see any specific organizational changes announced. Rather, Saridakis emphasizes eBay Enterprise's role as an "omnichannal" ecommerce solution for enterprises, with increasing cross-utilization of other eBay assets, including eBay Marketplaces, PayPal and other eBay
technologies. (For example, the company recently said it would integrate eBay's Magneto ecommerce software with GSI Commerce (now eBay Enterprise) technology and make it available to GSI clients.

A recent Gartner Magic Quadrant report showed IBM, Oracle and Hybris (recently reached agreement to be acquired by SAP) as the leaders in ecommerce,with eBay-GSI Commerce as one of the challengers.


eBay completed its $2.4 billion (cash + debt) acquisition of GSI Commerce, founded by Michael Rubin, precisely two years ago today. Rubin went on to start Conshohocken-based Kynetic LLC, in which eBay has a 30% stake in two of its three operating businesses.




permalink