eBay
Verified“A US-incorporated, US-run marketplace that sells to the world.”
- Listing
- Nasdaq: EBAY
- FY2025 net revenue
- $11.1B
- GMV
- ~$80B
- Employees
- ~12,300
18 = midpoint of Control 17 & Data 19
Sovereignty Quadrant
Control ↑ who owns & governs the company · Data → where your data lives. Every dot is a company — click to open it.
Every number below traces to 14 sourced facts across 6 independent sources, last verified 2026-06-12. 3 open questions hold confidence at 88% — they lower confidence, never the score.
Control ↑
Who legally and economically controls the company
Legal & Jurisdiction
22
eBay Inc. is incorporated in Delaware (originally California 1996, reincorporated Delaware 1998) with principal executive offices in San Jose, California. EU and UK users do contract with local operating entities (eBay GmbH in Germany; eBay (UK) Limited in London), which gives EU/UK consumer and data-protection law direct reach over those subsidiaries. But the ultimate controlling entity is a US corporation outside the EU's primary jurisdiction. Incorporated and run outside the EU, with EU operating subsidiaries only.
Why 22? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Principal executive offices
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
EU contracting / data-controller entity for non-UK European users
eBay User Agreement / User Privacy Notice · as of 2025-04-21
Control & Ownership
12
eBay trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under EBAY (since September 1998) with ~448 million shares outstanding. Ownership is roughly 95% institutional, dominated by US asset managers: Vanguard (~12.9%), BlackRock (~9.6%) and State Street. Both voting control and the economic majority sit in the US via a US listing. No EU control or EU economic majority.
Why 12? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Listing venue and ticker
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
Shares of common stock outstanding
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
Largest shareholders (US institutional asset managers)
The Motley Fool / public 13F-based ownership data · as of 2025-12-31
Data →
Where your data lives and who can reach it
Data & Infrastructure
10
eBay states its owned data centers are solely located in Utah (USA). Long-lived tangible assets are 92% US-based ($1,620M US vs $146M international). EU user personal data is transferred to recipients that may be anywhere in the world, including the United States, on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses (2021/914/EU) and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Core infrastructure is US-owned and US-located with full CLOUD Act / foreign-law exposure; no EU data residency guarantee for the platform itself.
Why 10? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Location of owned data centers
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K, Properties (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
Geography of long-lived tangible assets
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
Cross-border transfer of EEA personal data to third countries incl. US
eBay User Privacy Notice · as of 2025-04-21
Operations & People
32
Headquarters and senior leadership are US-based: HQ in San Jose, CEO Jamie Iannone, CFO Peggy Alford (since May 2025). Of ~12,300 employees globally, ~7,200 (58%) are in the United States, and the company reports financial results in US dollars. The offsetting fact is genuinely international demand: 48% of FY2025 net revenue and 51% of GMV are generated outside the US, with large UK and German markets. Operations are US-centered in control terms but with a substantial international footprint.
Why 32? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Global headcount and US share
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K, Human Capital (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
Net revenue by geography
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
Share of GMV generated outside the US
eBay Inc. FY2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) · as of 2025-12-31
CEO and reporting currency
eBay Inc. Q1 2025 results (SEC 8-K) · as of 2025-05-01
Aligned to the EU Commission’s official Cloud Sovereignty Framework (SEAL, Jun 2026) →
What we don’t know
3 open questions — they lower confidence, never the score
- ?
Where is EU/EEA user data physically stored day-to-day — does eBay operate any EU-region data centers or rely on EU cloud regions for European users?
10-K only confirms owned data centers in Utah; eBay may use third-party/cloud capacity in the EU that would modestly raise the infra score, but this is not disclosed in primary sources reviewed.
- ?
Exact current institutional ownership percentages and any non-US holders.
Ownership figures (Vanguard ~12.9%, BlackRock ~9.6%) come from secondary aggregators rather than the latest 13F/13G filings; precise splits could shift slightly but not the US-control conclusion.
- ?
Which specific cloud/hyperscaler providers eBay relies on beyond its owned Utah data centers.
The 10-K references reliance on third-party service providers generically; provider jurisdiction would refine the CLOUD Act exposure assessment.
EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework lens
SEAL was designed to audit cloud service providers; applied here as an analogous sovereignty mapping for a US marketplace operator, not a formal certification.
Strategic
US-headquartered, US-controlled public company; strategy set in San Jose with no EU governance role.
Legal & jurisdictional
Delaware parent. EU/UK law reaches local subsidiaries (eBay GmbH, eBay (UK) Limited) but not the controlling entity.
Data & AI
EEA personal data transferred to the US under SCCs and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework; CLOUD Act exposure applies.
Operational
US-centered leadership and HQ, but 48% of revenue and 51% of GMV are international with sizeable UK/German operations.
Supply chain
As a marketplace eBay does not hold inventory; vendor/provider supply chain not detailed in sources reviewed.
Technological
Owned data centers solely in Utah; core platform technology developed and hosted in the US.
Security & compliance
Operates under GDPR/DSA for EU activity via local entities and SCCs, but compliance flows up to a US parent under US law.
Environmental sustainability
10-K reports matching electricity consumption for eBay-controlled offices and data centers with renewable sources for a second straight year.
EU alternatives
EU-incorporated and EU-run second-hand marketplace based in Vilnius; strongest like-for-like consumer-to-consumer European alternative.
Poland's largest e-commerce marketplace, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange; EU-controlled and EU-operating.
Former eBay Kleinanzeigen, now operated under Adevinta; large German classifieds platform but Adevinta ownership includes non-EU private-equity (Permira/Blackstone), so control is mixed.
How the method works
Methodology v2 (provisional): the score is the midpoint of two axes — Control (who owns and governs the company) and Data (where your data lives and who can reach it). Each axis is scored only on verified evidence; unknowns reduce confidence, never the score. Every input below is sourced; the weights and judgments are open to challenge.
Spotted an error? Every claim is sourced — challenge it and we correct the record.
- 2026-06-12 — Initial golden profile, authored from primary sources (human + AI review).
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Verified 2026-06-12 · Human + AI joint review (sources independently checked) · Methodology