eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) quashed rumors that erupted yesterday of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) buying a stake in the company, but its shares still ended up almost 3% higher. Which shows that at least some people on the Street are speculating that a stake in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) can be bought by other tech companies. Since it appears that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is out of the game, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) are the three companies to whom a stake in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) can be an enticing proposition. Dan Nathan, Co-Founder and Editor of RiskReversal.com, was recently seen on CNBC discussing about the rumor that erupted yesterday and how it makes sense for other tech majors to buy a stake in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY).
“This stock [eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)] was down on the day and at about 10 o’ clock this rumor hit, it actually hit on Twitter, it was all over the place, people were trying to confirm it that Google was trying to take a stake in eBay for their PayPal unit, when you think about it Carl Icahn is the seventh largest holder, he had a proxy fight, a pretty nasty fight brewing with the company, he actually made up and now has got board seats in there, he is very quiet about this […],” Nathan said.
It’s no secret that the companies in which Carl Icahn gets involved go through major changes. According to Nathan, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)’s stock ending up with 3% gains, even after the company declined the rumors, is a ‘very bullish’ sign. Nathan feels that eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) is a well run company that is growing in double digits.
Nathan believes that even though Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is not considering buying a stake in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), other tech majors can. He feels that after the launch of Apple Pay, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) would be looking for ways to enter the payment platform business, which can make a stake in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) attractive for them as it owns PayPal. He also feels that with the cash that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) will make from the Alibaba Group’s IPO, it can consider buying a stake in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY).
As of June 30, 2014, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP owns over 30 million shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY); Philippe Laffont‘s Coatue Management owns over 5.8 million shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB); Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Mangement owns over 700,000 shares of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL); Jeffrey Ubben‘s ValueAct Capital owns over 74 million shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT); and D.E. Shaw‘s firm D.E. Shaw owns over 16 million shares of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO).
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