BW Online | January 14, 2002 | Margaret C. Whitman

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JANUARY 14, 2002

COVER STORY

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Margaret C. Whitman

eBay

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Cover Image: The Top 25 Managers of the Year

Louis V. Gerstner Jr.

Howard Schultz

Fujio Mitarai

Oprah Winfrey

Robert A. Eckert

Richard S. Fuld Jr.

Daniel Vasella

John Browne

Kent Kresa

Carole Black

Barry Lam

L. Dennis Kozlowski

Jeffrey L. Bewkes

Charles Lee and Ivan Seidenberg

Jeffrey C. Barbakow

Maurice R. Greenberg

Steven A. Ballmer

Reuben Mark

Steven S Reinemund

Craig A. Conway

Hiroyuki Yoshino

H. Lee Scott Jr.

John D. Wren

Richard B. Priory

COVER STORY

The Top 25 Managers of the Year

Managers to Watch 2002

The Top Entrepreneurs

The Fallen

Key Accomplishments

• Expanded international business from 7% of sales in 2000 to 14% in 2001

• Pushed to sell items at fixed prices, which now account for 16% of sales

PHOTO BY DAVID STRICK

When Meg Whitman joined eBay Inc. (EBAY ) in May, 1998, from Hasbro Inc.'s Preschool Div., her lack of technology experience left many doubting that she could run an Internet company. And when the auction site took off during the dot-com boom, some people wondered if she just got lucky. Not anymore. After almost four years at the helm, Whitman, 45, can take credit for transforming the onetime Web flea market into a global marketplace for everything from $1 compact discs to $5 million jets.

Not only that, she's surpassed expectations during a war-worsened recession. In the third quarter of 2001, eBay beat forecasts with a 71% jump in sales, to $194.4 million, and profits of $18 million. The value of merchandise sold through the site last year: a staggering $13 billion.

Affable and self-effacing, Whitman is quick to attribute eBay's success to its 38 million customers, who play a huge role in suggesting new features and categories: "Having millions of buyers and sellers who can make adjustments far faster than any company could is a huge advantage for us." Whitman herself has bought a car and sold the entire contents of a Colorado vacation home on eBay.

Whitman opened new opportunities by moving into fixed-price sales and new countries. At some point, the recession could curb growth, but for now, it's hard to find doubters.

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