Key Takeaways

  • eBay's post-founder management presided over steep declines in core metrics like GMV and active users, which fell by 30 million. Operating earnings also dropped, while operating expenses climbed to over half of the company's revenue.
  • Ryan Cohen argues that eBay's failure to provide essential tools alienated its critical seller base, forcing them to rely on third-party solutions, a stark contrast to Amazon's comprehensive Seller Central platform.
  • He blames a complacent 'professional management team' for the stagnation, suggesting they replaced hands-on problem-solving with reliance on outside consultants.
  • This detached approach meant eBay missed out on the explosion of e-commerce, losing significant market share to category-focused competitors, live shopping platforms, and even Shopify.

The Invisible Hand That Crushed Value

Ryan Cohen, known for founding Chewy and his activist role at GameStop, didn't hold back when dissecting eBay's performance under its current leadership. He painted a picture of a company adrift, watching the e-commerce tide rise while its own ship remained firmly anchored. Cohen argued that since the founders stepped away, eBay has bled market share to basically everyone: new category-focused players, live shopping, Shopify, and Amazon.

He pointed to the numbers, and they're grim. “If you just look at how they've done in the past since co every important metric is down,” Cohen said. “GMV is down, active users is down by 30 million. Operating earnings is down.” Revenue barely budged, up a few points, yet operating expenses soared. For a business that holds no inventory, Cohen found the expense-to-revenue ratio alarming: “Their operating expenses now are for a business that has no inventory. They're operating their revenues are their operating expenses are over half of their revenues.” The bottom line, according to Cohen, is clear: “Everybody else in e-commerce is growing and they're making less money and they're spending a lot more.”

The Seller's Pain, Management's Blind Spot

Where did eBay go wrong? Cohen believes it comes down to a fundamental betrayal of its core users: the sellers. While e-commerce boomed, eBay's platform stagnated, failing to give sellers the tools they needed to thrive. This forced them to patch together solutions using outside software.

“You talk to sellers and in order for them to do business on eBay, they have to use all kinds of thirdparty tools outside of eBay because eBay is not even providing those tools,” Cohen explained. He drew a sharp contrast to Amazon, whose “Seller Central is like soup to nuts. You could pretty much do everything in Seller Central.” For eBay, it's a different story: “it's a pain and and they alienate their sellers.” This alienation isn't just an inconvenience; it's a root cause of the platform's decline. When you ignore the people who generate your value, they go elsewhere.

The Peril of Professional Management

Cohen didn't just point fingers at declining metrics; he called out a culture of detachment. He argued that the shift from a "founder operator run" business to one managed by a "professional management team" fundamentally changed how problems were addressed. Founders live and breathe their product; they're in the trenches. Professional managers, Cohen suggested, are often too far removed.

“That's what happens when you go from a business that founder operator run to business with a professional management team,” Cohen said. “You lose the one-on-one and the just the rolling up their sleeves really getting into solving the root cause of problems.” This leads to a reliance on outside consultants and abstract reports rather than direct user engagement. The result? A company that grows operating expenses without growing its value, and misses critical market shifts because it's not listening to, or building for, the very people who power its ecosystem.

What to Do With This

Founders, don't just survey your users—be your users. If you build software, spend a full day each month operating solely within your product, without special access or workarounds. If you sell physical goods, pack and ship orders yourself. This forces you to feel every friction point directly, revealing the critical tools and features your "professional management" might otherwise miss.