eBay Trades Higher After Reporting $4.9B In Q4 Revenue, 2,400 Q1 Layoffs

This afternoon following the bell, eBay released its fourth-quarter financial performance. The company had fourth-quarter revenues of $4.9 billion, with GAAP earnings of $0.75 per share on profit of $936 million.

Non-GAAP earnings were $1.1 billion or $0.90 cents per diluted share, just in line with analysts expectations that the company would earn $0.89 per share on revenue of $4.93 billion.

The numbers were boosted by e-commerce sales volume growth of 21 percent, according to a statement. Mobile payments were especially strong for the payments and e-commerce giant, with mobile commerce volume growing 30 percent in the quarter to $27.9 billion for the full year. Cross-border trading in the fourth quarter grew 20 percent.

“In a year of unexpected events and distractions, we ended 2014 with double-digit revenue growth, solid earnings growth and strong cash flow, reflecting the fundamental strengths of our company,” said John Donahoe, president and CEO of eBay.

Some of the company’s “distractions” may now be alleviated thanks to a standstill agreement with activist investor Carl Icahn. As part of a deal to get Icahn to back down, eBay says it’s making PayPal adopt certain corporate governance as an independent company at the time of its spin-off and agreed to appoint Icahn Capital executive Jonathan Christodoro to its board of directors.

Thanks to the agreement, once eBay and PayPal separate, Christodoro may take a seat on either company’s board.

Flat in regular trading, eBay is up modestly in after-hours trading following its earnings hit. The company’s net revenue totaled $17.92 billion in 2014. It managed non-GAAP profits of $3.2 billion during the year.

Finally, eBay will ax 2,400 jobs in the current quarter, a move that should lower short-term costs, and thus boost short-term profits. The job cuts will impact 7 percent of the company’s workforce.