MicroStrategy clinches software deal with eBay

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 22 May 2003, 19:30 IST
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PALO ALTO: MicroStrategy Inc. (Nasdaq:MSTR), which sells software that sifts data for potentially money-making trends, said on Wednesday it had struck a significant deal with Web auctioneer eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY). MicroStrategy believes the combination of products and services related to the transaction will be valued at around $1 million over two years, Chief Operating Officer Sanju Bansal told Reuters. "Its many times larger than the average deal size that we report in a traditional quarter," said Bansal. MicroStrategy's revenues were $37.4 million in the most recent quarter and its average deal size was around $75,000. MicroStrategy said eBay will initially deploy its software to analyze the performance of its thousands of product categories. It also plans to give thousands of employees access to the software for use in preparing financial analyses and other reports. The McLean, Virginia-based software shop, which saw its stock hit a boom-time high of $333, has been rebuilding after an accounting scandal that led it to restate financial results from 1997 through 1999. The company paid $11 million to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission (News - Websites). MicroStrategy, which did a 1-for-10 reverse stock split in 2002, has seen its shares gain 77 percent so far this year to around $28. During the current weak market for high-tech products, MicroStrategy and other companies in the business intelligence software sector have outperformed the overall software industry.