eBay Delays Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Report

In an SEC filing, eBay states it will be late with its second quarter earnings report for 2021. On the NT 10-Q form notifying the SEC of its intentions to file the report late, the company said:

“eBay Inc., (the “Company”) is unable to file, without unreasonable effort and expense, its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 (the “Form 10-Q”). As a result of (i) reporting the Company’s Korea operations as held for sale and discontinued operations in light of its pending sale announced June 24, 2021 and as reported on a Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 30, 2021 and (ii) the transfer of the Company’s eBay Classifieds business to Adevinta ASA (“Adevinta”) concluded on June 24, 2021, the Company requires additional time to finalize its financial statements, for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. The Company currently expects to file the Form 10-Q before the five calendar day extension period.”

“The financial statements included in the Company’s Form 10-Q filing will include a significant gain on the transfer of the Company’s Classifieds business, which will be reflected in Income from discontinued operations, net of income taxes in our condensed consolidated statement of income, representing a significant change from the corresponding period in the last fiscal year. We are unable to estimate this gain and the impact of the presentation of our Korea operations as discontinued operations as the preparation of our financial statements is still in progress.”

While late filings may raise red flags for investors, regulators, and analysts, they are less problematic if the reason for the late filing was due to significant acquisitions, mergers, or business unit sales.

This seems to be the case here for eBay as it uses the sales of its Classifieds Group and Koren business unit as the excuse for the late filing. The company also said it expects to file its second quarter earnings report within 5 calendars days of the expected filing date, which is really a minor delay.

While eBay didn’t say that the transition to its new CFO Steve Priest late in the second quarter contributed to the delay, it probably didn’t help either as Priest is new to the company.

SEC records show this is the first time eBay is filing its quarterly earnings late. The company was expected to release its second quarter earnings report on August 11, 2021.

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