Report: eBay CEO Planning Departure

Report: eBay CEO Planning Departure

According to the Wall Street Journal, eBay CEO Meg Whitman is preparing to leave the company she's shepherded for the last ten years.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that eBay CEO Meg Whitman is preparing to depart the company she’s headed up for the last 10 years. Although it appears no definite dates have been set, the WSJ cites “people familiar with the matter” as saying a decision could come in the next few weeks. eBay is due to report its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2007 on Wednesday.

Whitman is one of Silicon Valley’s longest-standing CEOs, and had lead eBay through periods of explosive growth (including its IPO) as it grew to dominate the online auction business, and shepherded the company’s acquisitions of online payment service PayPal and Internet telephony provider Skype. However, recent, eBay has been facing slowing growth in the online auction market and has warned it may have to jack fees and/or raise the proportion of sales it collects in order to meet earnings goals. Whitman has also been delegating portions of her day-to-day responsibilities to other eBay executives; industry watchers consider John Donahue, the head of eBay’s auction business, the most likely candidate to succeed Whitman.

Whitman once said that a CEO should not stay in the same job for more than a decade because they need new challenges and perspectives. It now appears she’ll be practicing what she preaches around the time her 10-year anniversary with the company rolls around this March.

Showing 1 comment

  1. Virginia Cervino at 9:59am 20th October 2008 Who is responsible for hiring John Donahoe? Daffy Duck could run Ebay it better than this dude. I havn't been able to reach anyone @ ebay since he has been in charge. The online chat hasn't connected. You cannot reach a "real person" on the phone and the email does not get answered.
    He's put a cap on the amount of items I can sell w/out notice. I'm furious! Plus, he's made a negative feedback the same as a netural. Therefore, it decieves the customers. For instsnce, if two seperate sellers have the exact same feedback whereas one never sends their items and screws the buyer and the other has a couple of neturals from people who got their money back but did not like the color. That seller is honest whereas the other is not. What is the point of an option of netural and negative if they both count as the same mark against the seller? It's deceiving to the buyer who leaves the neutral. No wonder stocks have fallen. I am so angry that here is a cap on how many items one can sell. It's like Nazi crap. CONTROLLED MARKET the what is supposed to be ''free market''.It's Stalinistic.
Close Suggestion FaceBook App Vendor Slide Raises $50 Mln
View Article