IT'S a modern day phenomenon that's rapidly taking the place of the car boot sale. Now, it's possible to place a value on the "UK eBay economy" – a staggering £2 billion.
And, according to the online auction and trading giant, Edinburgh is home to
1,500 so-called "eBay entrepreneurs", who use the site to run a business or as their primary or secondary source of income, creating some £16.5 million of wealth for Scotland's capital city each year.
Across Britain, the value generated by the estimated 178,000 eBay entrepreneurs is said to be greater than the turnover of high street giant WH Smith and matches the combined wealth of entrepreneurs Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and Sir James Dyson.
Scotland has some catching up to do in the eBay entrepreneur stakes, however. The heaviest concentration of this burgeoning community of business and bedroom entrepreneurs per population is in the East Midlands.
FACT OF THE DAY
$1.5trTHE global share sell-off may have wiped up to $1.5 trillion (£753 billion) off the value of global institutional pension fund assets since the start of this year, according to consulting firm Watson Wyatt. With the average exposure to equities within pension funds in the 11 largest pension markets at 56 per cent, they have felt the pain of the global slump, while pension liabilities grew faster than their assets last year, Wyatt added, describing 2007 as "a year of two distinct halves".
KILLER QUOTE"WE BELIEVE that Mr King has done an excellent job in conducting monetary policy over his term as governor and that is the over-riding factor. We also believe that there is no better candidate to replace him."
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight, on Mervyn King's reappointment as Bank of England governor.
GOOD DAY
I & H BrownTHE Perth-based firm is celebrating after its civil engineering division secured a £10.5 million contract from Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon Homes to provide civil engineering infrastructure for more than 600 new homes in Falkirk.
BAD DAY
Canon LESS than sparkling figures from the world's largest digital camera maker failed to impress investors. The Japanese firm posted a fall in quarterly operating profit and missed market expectations with its forecast for growth this year. The shares have lost 24 per cent since October.
