1. Contrast eBay’s original business model with its current business model.

Founded in 1995 as an offbeat, quirky place to buy and sell almost anything via online auctions, eBay now derives the majority of its revenue from traditional e-commerce. Over the past ten years, the company has steadily transformed its business model away from its initial auction-based model and towards the fixed-price model popularized by Amazon.
After rapid early growth, eBay struggled from 2007 to 2009. For many buyers, the novelty of online auctions had worn off, and they were returning to easier and simpler methods of buying goods from Amazon and other fixed-price retailers, which, by comparison, had steady growth during the same time period. Search engines and comparison shopping sites were also taking away some of eBay’s auction business by making items easier to find on the Web.
Former CEO John Donahoe instituted an ambitious three-year revival plan that moved eBay away from its origins as an online flea market, and at first it began to resemble an outlet mall where retailers sold out-of-season, overstocked, refurbished, or discontinued merchandise. From there it was a straightforward progression to partnering with retail chains to simply serve as another channel for current merchandise. Today, 80% of eBay’s listings are brand new, and eBay has 1.1 billion live listings.