eBay
eBay disclosed that compromised employee credentials enabled access to a customer database and asked all users to reset passwords.
-5.0% EBAY vs +5.0% SPY
This site shows how share prices moved after an incident became public. It does not prove that the incident caused the move. Company news, sector moves and the wider market can affect every result. Educational only — not investment advice.
Disclosure timing
When could the market react?
The baseline is the last adjusted close before the news was public. The reaction session is the first close afterward.
- 01Baseline sessionMay 20, 2014
Normalized to 100 for both EBAY and SPY.
- 02Public disclosureMay 21, 2014 · time unknown
Publication time is not documented; lower timing precision.
- 03First reaction closeMay 21, 2014
-0.2% company total return versus +0.8% for SPY; -1.0 pp market-relative return.
Disclosure time is unknown; the previous session close is used as baseline.
Time windows
Company vs SPY
Each row uses the last trading session on or before its target date. “Market-relative” is the company return minus the SPY return, in percentage points.
| Window | Endpoint | EBAY | SPY | Market-relative | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First reaction | May 21, 2014 | -0.2% | +0.8% | -1.0 pp | Below SPY |
| +7 days | May 28, 2014 | -3.0% | +2.0% | -5.1 pp | Below SPY |
| +1 month | Jun 20, 2014 | -5.0% | +5.0% | -10.0 pp | Below SPY |
| +3 months | Aug 21, 2014 | +7.6% | +6.9% | +0.7 pp | Above SPY |
| +6 months | Nov 21, 2014 | +4.7% | +11.2% | -6.5 pp | Below SPY |
| +12 months | May 21, 2015 | +15.0% | +16.1% | -1.1 pp | Below SPY |
Compare with current catalog aggregates
| Window | This case | Catalog median | Catalog mean | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First reaction | -1.0 pp | -0.8 pp | -1.5 pp | 30 |
| +7 days | -5.1 pp | -2.0 pp | -4.0 pp | 30 |
| +1 month | -10.0 pp | -6.6 pp | -6.8 pp | 30 |
| +3 months | +0.7 pp | -5.1 pp | -6.6 pp | 30 |
| +6 months | -6.5 pp | -5.6 pp | -7.5 pp | 30 |
| +12 months | -1.1 pp | -3.7 pp | -10.1 pp | 30 |
Normalized total return
EBAY compared with SPY
Baseline session = 100. Adjusted close reflects splits and reinvested distributions.
eBay had +15.0% company total return versus +16.1% for SPY; -1.1 pp market-relative return. The chart shows normalized adjusted-close performance for up to 24 months.
View tabular chart fallback
| Date | EBAY | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| May 20, 2014 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Jun 19, 2014 | 95.5 | 104.8 |
| Jul 21, 2014 | 99.5 | 105.7 |
| Aug 19, 2014 | 103.4 | 106.3 |
| Sep 18, 2014 | 101.4 | 108.1 |
| Oct 17, 2014 | 92.3 | 101.4 |
| Nov 17, 2014 | 105.5 | 110.0 |
| Dec 17, 2014 | 108.6 | 108.6 |
| Jan 20, 2015 | 103.3 | 109.4 |
| Feb 19, 2015 | 111.0 | 113.6 |
| Mar 20, 2015 | 111.5 | 114.4 |
| Apr 21, 2015 | 108.6 | 113.9 |
| May 20, 2015 | 113.8 | 115.7 |
| Jun 19, 2015 | 117.7 | 115.2 |
| Jul 21, 2015 | 130.8 | 115.7 |
| Aug 19, 2015 | 125.4 | 113.8 |
| Sep 18, 2015 | 119.0 | 107.3 |
| Oct 19, 2015 | 112.3 | 111.7 |
| Nov 17, 2015 | 130.1 | 112.8 |
| Dec 17, 2015 | 128.3 | 112.5 |
| Jan 20, 2016 | 118.1 | 102.6 |
| Feb 19, 2016 | 108.9 | 106.1 |
| Mar 21, 2016 | 111.3 | 113.6 |
| Apr 20, 2016 | 112.8 | 116.7 |
| May 19, 2016 | 107.1 | 113.4 |
| May 20, 2016 | 108.1 | 114.1 |
Price recovery
Recovered
Here, recovery only means that adjusted close reached the baseline again. It does not mean every effect of the incident ended.
- State
- Recovered
- Initial trough
- -3.0% on May 28, 2014
- Recovery close
- May 23, 2014
- Calendar days
- 2
- Observation cap
- 24 months after disclosure
Hypothetical $1,000
What would $1,000 have looked like?
Compare $1,000 in EBAY with $1,000 in SPY, bought and measured on the same dates.
Entry May 27, 2014 Exit Nov 26, 2014
Uses fractional shares and adjusted close. Leaves out taxes, fees and slippage. The holding period starts on the purchase date. This is a historical illustration, not an investment strategy.
Case note
eBay reported that attackers had used compromised employee credentials to enter its corporate network and access a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial customer data. It asked its entire user base to change passwords.
The broad mandatory reset and customer-data exposure satisfy the systemic and measurable-impact tests. The record uses date precision because the archived company release does not provide a dependable market-timing timestamp.
Evidence
Sources and case review
We qualify each case before checking its price results. These links support the disclosure date, listing, incident and business impact.
- primary May 21, 2014eBay Inc. to ask eBay users to change passwords eBay Inc. Supports: Disclosure, Listing, Impact, Description
- Listing evidenceChecked Jul 20, 2026eBay asks users to change passwords eBay Inc. The event announcement identifies eBay as Nasdaq-listed under EBAY at disclosure.
Why it is included. The issuer directly suffered the compromise, publicly fixed the disclosure date and required a platform-wide password reset after a customer database was accessed. Reviewed Jul 20, 2026.