eBay origins and early history
Founded in San Jose on September 4, 1995 by Pierre Omidyar as Auctionweb, part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar’s own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.
The first item sold was Omidyar’s broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, he contacted the winning bidder and asked if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.” The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar’s fiancee trade PEZ Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen’s 2002 book and confirmed by eBay.
Jeff Skoll was hired as the company’s first president and full-time employee in 1996. The company officially changed its name to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar’s consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name EchoBay.com but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com.
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