How eBay Regained its Edge by Predicting the Future

Leveraging the newness of online shopping, the auction site was wildly successful until the mid-2000s, when companies that had been internet pioneers — think MySpace and eToys — started losing their appeal and cash flow. In 2007, posting losses for the first time in its history as a public company, the future of eBay was uncertain. "It was clear the world had innovated around eBay and eBay had stayed with the same formula," eBay CEO John Donahoe told The New York Times in 2012.