SAN JOSE, Calif., March 12, 2001 — eBay Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced a strategic alliance to jointly expand their global online presence and improve the e-commerce experience for consumers. The two firms will work together to enable buyers and sellers on the Internet to seamlessly interact across multiple Web sites and other applications anywhere in the world.
The alliance calls for broad cooperation initially focusing on three key initiatives expected to roll out this year. First, eBay will support Microsoft® .NET technologies, and will be one of the first Web sites worldwide to offer its community-based commerce engine to Web developers as an XML-based Web service. Second, Microsoft will integrate eBay’s marketplace into a number of its Web properties, including select MSN® Internet service sites worldwide, Carpoint™ , bCentral™ and WebTV® . Finally, eBay will deploy Microsoft technology including Windows® 2000 Server and Microsoft Passport.
“This alliance with Microsoft will be another exciting step forward for eBay,”
said Meg Whitman, President and CEO, eBay Inc.
“By working with Microsoft’s cutting-edge technology we will significantly strengthen eBay’s marketplace and our community’s ability to trade seamlessly at any time from anywhere on the planet.”
“I am personally very excited about this deal because it combines eBay’s online trading community with Microsoft’s pioneering .NET platform technology,”
said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft.
“Together, with our shared vision for creating Web services that break the bounds of today’s isolated Web sites, we can significantly enhance the online experience for millions of online customers.”
Web Services Collaboration
Central to the alliance is the intersection of key new technology initiatives: eBay’s API (application program interface) and Microsoft .NET. eBay’s powerful commerce engine, which can be licensed by third-party Web sites through the API, will now be offered as a SOAP-based XML Web service. SOAP, an industry standard, provides an open mechanism for different applications and Web sites to converse over the Internet. The Microsoft .NET platform will extend the eBay API, making eBay’s engine accessible to potentially millions of developers worldwide, and help eBay offer its services to consumers through a wide variety of devices and applications beyond the browser.
eBay Integration with Microsoft Web Properties
Microsoft will use eBay’s programmable XML-based Web service to integrate the trading services of eBay’s online marketplace into a number of its own Internet properties including the MSN network of Internet services, the Carpoint online automotive service and WebTV service. The integration of the services is currently planned to debut later this year and will be available in a number of the 33 international markets in which MSN currently has a presence. These services will allow consumers easy access to the global eBay trading community within localized MSN environments. For example, Carpoint will integrate eBay Motors as its used car listings and transaction engine, making it easier for Carpoint users to buy and sell used cars, motorcycles and car parts online.
eBay’s trading services will also be integrated into Microsoft bCentral small-business service. Through Microsoft bCentral, small-business merchants will be able to extend their e-commerce capabilities by directly posting items for sale on eBay’s marketplace from within the Microsoft bCentral hosted Commerce Manager service. In addition, bCentral and eBay will provide for full transactional integration between bCentral customer commerce Web sites and eBay, including the ability to determine status of listings on eBay and view transaction history directly from bCentral.
Microsoft and eBay will cross-promote these services on their respective Web sites.
Microsoft Technology Deployment
To support the deployment and operation of its new XML-based Web service, eBay will deploy Windows 2000 Server across all of its front-end Web servers. The solution is expected to enhance reliability, performance, scalability and cost effectiveness moving forward. As part of the alliance, eBay will also offer its users the ability to register and sign in on eBay using Microsoft Passport. Over one hundred million users worldwide have Passport accounts that provide a common user name and password that works across a growing network of Web sites.
Future Collaboration
The two companies are also collaborating on a variety of other projects around Web services integration and the delivery of next-generation user experiences, including eBay’s plans to capitalize on the forthcoming Windows XP operating system.
The financial terms of the alliance were not disclosed.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
About eBay Inc.
eBay (Nasdaq
“EBAY”
; http://www.ebay.com ) is the world’s largest online trading community. Founded in 1995, eBay created a powerful marketplace for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and small businesses. On any given day, there are millions of items listed on the site across thousands of categories. eBay enables trade on a local, national and international basis with local sites in 60 markets in the United States and country-specific sites in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Japan, Korea and Australia. With the acquisition of Half.com in July 2000, eBay’s community now benefits from a marketplace combining traditional auction-style trading and Half.com’s set-price trading.
Forward-Looking Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the definitive agreements may not be successfully concluded or may be concluded with terms different than those described in this release, engineering or business factors may delay or modify the implementation of all or some of the technology or marketing aspects of the alliance. More information about potential factors which could affect eBay’s business and financial results is included in eBay’s Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2000 under the headings
“Risk Factors”
and
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,”
its current reports on Form 8-K and those reports filed subsequent to this announcement. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to eBay and Microsoft on the date hereof, and neither eBay nor Microsoft assume an obligation to update such statements.
Microsoft, MSN, Carpoint, bCentral, WebTV and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
