Wouldn't it be fitting if the next great bidding war in the tech space occurred over eBay, the leader in online auctions?
Interestingly, it's probably eBay's (EBAY) payments juggernaut -- PayPal -- not its auction business that would be the catalyst.
"As the payments space gets increasingly attractive but also competitive, PayPal's merchant relationships and user/transaction data become increasingly valuable," Goldman wrote.
Tell that to Carl Icahn, who earlier this year failed to convince eBay to spin off PayPal to create shareholder value.
The potential of PayPal is the driving force behind Goldman's "conviction buy" rating on eBay. Its $61 price target implies an 11% jump from eBay's current price and doesn't even include a potential M&A premium.
Possible eBay bidders include global e-commerce or payments platforms that want to expand their presence in the U.S. as well as Internet conglomerates, Goldman said. MasterCard (MA) or Alibaba, perhaps?
