Report: eBay CEO Planning Departure

By Geoff Duncan Published January 22, 2008

Report: eBay CEO Planning Departure — Image used with permission by copyright holder

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.

Recommended Videos

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.

Former Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Emerging Tech

Remember Samsung’s Ballie home robot? It may finally be inching closer to reality

Leaked app wireframes give the strongest hint yet that Samsung's Ballie home robot, first shown at CES 2020, might still be headed toward an actual release.

Samsung Ballie robot in a room next to a dog feeder.

Samsung's rolling home robot has been the industry's longest-running "will it ever actually ship" joke, and I'll admit I'd mostly given up on it. Now, there's finally a glimmer of hope.

Samsung first unveiled Ballie as a concept at CES 2020. Then, it showed it as a significantly upgraded version four years later. However, the company never confirmed a release date or committed to releasing it at all.

Smart Home

The US foreign-made robot crackdown is coming for future Roombas too

Future Roombas face new US sales hurdles, but existing models are unaffected

Roomba 980

The FCC has already made it much harder for foreign drone makers such as DJI to bring new products into the US. Now, the same crackdown is reaching a machine far more likely to be moving around your living room.

The US government recently added foreign-made advanced robotic devices to the FCC’s Covered List. The announcement appeared focused on humanoids, robot dogs, and industrial machines, but an FCC spokesperson has confirmed to The Verge that robot vacuum cleaners are covered too.

Branded Content

The GOKO M6 Robotic Lawn Mower Brings Industrial Robotics to Modern Lawn Care

7 reasons this AI-driven powerhouse makes hands-free yard work smarter than ever

Grass, Lawn, Plant

Robotic lawn mowers can save homeowners hours of manual yard work, but not every model is designed for challenging properties. While many perform well on flat lawns, larger yards with uneven terrain, steep slopes, and multiple mowing zones require a mower built for more demanding conditions.

Developed by GOKO, the consumer robotics brand of Robot++, the GOKO M6 is an industrial-grade 4WD AI-powered robotic lawn mower that brings more than a decade of industrial robotics expertise to residential lawn care. It combines AI-powered four-wheel drive, advanced navigation technologies, and AI QuadVision obstacle detection to tackle complex landscapes with less manual intervention.