EBay Inc. is repurchasing Wells Fargo’s equity stake in Billpoint, the
auction giant’s person-to-person payment subsidiary, for $43.5 million.
However, Wells Fargo will continue to support eBay Payments
by Billpoint through its payment processing and risk management services.
San Jose, Calif.-based eBay and Wells Fargo formed a
strategic relationship in March 2000 to provide eBay’s buyers and sellers
with an integrated online payment service. At the time, Wells Fargo acquired
a 35 percent equity stake in Billpoint.
Nearly a quarter of all eBay listings currently offer Billpoint as a payment
option. PayPal , which went public last week, also is
widely used. Billpoint was founded in October of 1998 and was purchased by
eBay in May 1999.
“The increased integration of Billpoint and eBay over time makes this stock
repurchase very attractive for both Wells Fargo and eBay,” said Janet Crane,
CEO of Billpoint.
Meanwhile, eBay has settled some trademark protection cases. In one out of
court settlement, BidBay, while not admitting liability, has
agreed to stop using the corporate name “BidBay” and the BidBay.com domain
name. BidBay reportedly will pay eBay an undisclosed sum as part of the
settlement.
BidBay, which also looks very much like eBay, agreed to adopt the name
AuctionDiner.com, according to a Wall Street Journal report. eBay said the
agreement followed the resolution of a similar dispute with auction site
BrickBay.com, which recently agreed to change its name and Web address to
BrickLink.com.