Ebay keeps spending

EBAY, the world’s largest online marketplace, forecast fourth-quarter sales and profit last night that missed some analysts’ estimates as it spends more on marketing products to woo developers and strengthen its payment services.

Revenue will be $3.2 billion to $3.35bn (€2.3bn to €2.45bn), the company said yesterday in a statement. Excluding some costs, profit will be 55 cents to 58 cents a share. Analysts on average had projected sales of $3.3 billion and profit of 58 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Chief executive John Donahoe is leading a turnaround of the e-commerce company, whose stock had plummeted 83% in five years to a low of $10.27 in 2009.