Carl Icahn Renews Push to Shake Up eBay

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By Trey Thoelcke Updated Published
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Activist investor Carl Icahn has “not yet begun to fight” according to his latest open letter to the shareholders of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Thursday. His impetus was an investor survey that showed 55% of respondents support a shakeup of eBay’s board of directors.

Icahn has argued in recent weeks that eBay should spin off PayPal into a separate business to achieve its full value. He also believes that board members Marc Andreessen and Scott Cook should be replaced. Icahn took a stake in eBay in January.

eBay CEO John Donahoe says that top shareholders disagree with Icahn that PayPal should be spun off from the company. He said, “I met with fifteen, sixteen of our top twenty active investors, have engaged back and forth in dialogue with them. The majority of them understand that they’re stronger together.”

One of those top shareholders, company founder, Pierre Omidyar, said:

A new eBay shareholder, Carl Icahn, is making unsubstantiated claims about our company — and deliberately impugning the integrity of our directors. Instead of having an honest discussion about a reasonable question, Mr. Icahn has chosen to attack the integrity of two highly respected and qualified board members, Scott Cook and Marc Andreessen. He also has attacked the integrity of our CEO John Donahoe.

In Icahn’s Thursday letter to shareholders, he pointed to the 43% of survey respondents who thought spinning off PayPal is the right decision. Icahn believes and independent PayPal would encourage eBay competitors like Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) to adopt PayPal’s service, thereby boosting PayPal’s growth.

Investors will get a chance to make their feelings on the matter known at the company’s next shareholders meeting.

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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