After indicating that the company is working on a turnaround plan this year, eBay seems to be aggressively pursuing initiatives to fulfill its goals of making its platform simpler and more efficient for both buyers and sellers. Reports suggest that the company recently acquired an artificial intelligence and analytics company based out of Sweden called Expertmaker. One of the key turnaround goals of eBay is to encourage sellers to define their products using structured data, making it easier for the marketplace to show relevant search results to buyers. The acquisition of Expertmaker should help the company in this initiative, given its expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data. As eBay works towards improving its platform, results of these initiatives are now visible. The company reported a 4% year-on-year increase in revenues in Q12016 and a better than expected EPS. (earnings per share). We believe as eBay systematically addresses the issues plaguing its platform and resolves them through strategic initiatives, its turnaround plan should lead to an improvement in revenues and earnings going forward.
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