eBay quarterly earnings see PayPal exploding

There's no denying that eBay has been a force to be reckoned with in the online auction space here on the web for quite a few years – and today's earnings report supports that claim with a fury. That fury, on the other hand, is really based quite a bit on the power of PayPal, the online payment system acquired by eBay when it was clear that they were made for one another. As eBay grows, so too does PayPal – but the overall growth of the two looks just a bit sheepish compared to the growth of just PayPal alone.

The online auction business eBay reported this week that their first-quarter profit rose an impressive 20% on continued strength in its payments business – this not including PayPal. At the same time, their smaller online-payments segment which does include PayPal had revenue growth of 32% – an impressive jump indeed. Revenue growth in eBay's marketplaces segment – also known as their largest division, was found to have 11% growth this quarter. Gross merchandise volume grew 12%, this excluding the vehicle piece of the equation in eBay's report for one reason or another.

In the end, eBay's total profit grew to $570 million this quarter, this up from $476 million last year at this same time. While these numbers might have nothing on a company so massive as Google with their $10.56 billion in earnings for Q1, eBay certainly isn't going anywhere when it comes to the business they do, and do well.

How often do you use eBay? How about PayPal?