e with just $30 million in inventory and $30 million in net plant and equipment. I think with the tremendous possibilities of Internet based business, there is much more to gain from e-commerce business that hasn't even been discovered as of yet. We can bet that amazon.com will be on top of all opportunities that will strengthen their market position and lead them into the new millennium as a continued leader in e-commerce business.(B)E-Bay is the world's largest trading community on the Internet, based on the number of items listed, number of users and minutes of usage per month. E-bay was the first company to bring person-to-person trading by introducing a Web-based community where buyers and sellers are brought together in an auction format to buy and sell such personal items like antiques, coins, collectables, computers, memorabilia, etc. E-bay started out with just one employee, who was the founder back in 1995, and it has since grown its employee base to 138 by fiscal year end 1998. Another staggering statistic regarding registered e-bay users increased from 340,000 in 1997 to 2.1 million by the end of 1998 that translates into a 600% increase (see figure 2). The number of simultaneous auctions being conducted through e-bay increased from nearly 200,000 in 1997 to over 1 million in 1998. Total gross merchandise sales increased from nearly $100 million to over $740 million in one year (see figure 1). Individual sellers, rather than e-bay, sell the listed items, so therefore the company has no cost of goods sold, no procurement, carrying or shipping costs and no inventory risk. E-bays rate of expense growth is primarily due to increases in personnel and expenditures for advertising and promotion. The company intends to increase its expenses substantially in areas of advertising, promotion and personnel, in an effort to maximize its potential for revenue growth. E-bay also did some expanding in 1998 when it acquired all of the outsta...
