eBay
Founded by Pierre Omidyar as “AuctionWeb,” eBay pioneered person-to-person online auctions and became one of the defining marketplaces of the early internet.
Founded1995
HeadquartersSan Jose, CA
IndustryE-commerce
eBay headquarters, San Jose, 2018 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Overview
Founders
Pierre Omidyar
Founded September 1995
Landmark Achievements
- Created the first mass-scale online auction and person-to-person e-commerce marketplace.
- Built an early reputation/feedback system that helped establish trust between strangers transacting online.
- Its 2002 acquisition of PayPal helped establish online payments; eBay's 1998 IPO was a landmark of the dot-com era.
eBay's place in the story
Continue through the chronicle — the builders of American technology, in founding order.