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Carl Icahn Wins Again: eBay To Spin Off PayPal, CEO John Donahoe Is Out
And so Carl Icahn wins again, this time with his demand that eBay spin off PayPal. As a reminder, eBay swore up and down it would never spin off its best performing asset, then swore again, and swore some more. And then 3 minutes ago, revealed it was only kidding, because eBay just reported PayPal will be spun off in a move that will cost CEO John Donahoe his job: "Neither Donahoe nor Swan will have an executive management role in the new eBay and PayPal companies. But to provide continuity, they each expect to serve on one or both of the boards of the two companies. Oh, and another winner: "Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Allen & Company LLC are serving as financial advisors to eBay Inc."
From the just released press release:
eBay Inc. to Separate eBay and PayPal Into Independent Publicly Traded Companies in 2015
- Maximizes strategic focus and flexibility for eBay and PayPal to capitalize on respective growth opportunities in highly competitive, rapidly changing global commerce and payments markets
- Preserves eBay and PayPal relationships through arm’s length operating agreements
- Provides shareholders with more targeted investment opportunities; best path to sustainable shareholder value
Devin Wenig, president of eBay Marketplaces, to become CEO of new eBay company following separation; American Express executive Dan Schulman joins PayPal immediately as President and CEO designee for PayPal post-separation; eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe and CFO Bob Swan to oversee separation and serve on boards of new independent companies
eBay Inc. (EBAY) today said its Board of Directors, following a strategic review of the company’s growth strategies and structure, has approved a plan to separate the company’s eBay and PayPal businesses into independent publicly traded companies in 2015, subject to customary conditions. Creating two standalone businesses best positions eBay and PayPal to capitalize on their respective growth opportunities in the rapidly changing global commerce and payments landscape, and is the best path for creating sustainable shareholder value, the company said.
“eBay and PayPal are two great businesses with leading global positions in commerce and payments,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “For more than a decade eBay and PayPal have mutually benefited from being part of one company, creating substantial shareholder value. However, a thorough strategic review with our board shows that keeping eBay and PayPal together beyond 2015 clearly becomes less advantageous to each business strategically and competitively. The industry landscape is changing, and each business faces different competitive opportunities and challenges.
“eBay and PayPal will be sharper and stronger, and more focused and competitive as leading, standalone companies in their respective markets,” Donahoe continued. “As independent companies, eBay and PayPal will enjoy added flexibility to pursue new market and partnership opportunities. And we are confident following a thorough assessment of the relationships between eBay and PayPal that operating agreements can maintain synergies going forward. Our board and management team believe that putting eBay and PayPal on independent paths in 2015 is best for each business and will create additional value for our shareholders.”
As the company has previously stated, eBay’s board of directors has a practice of regularly reviewing the company’s growth strategies and structure, and assessing all alternatives. As part of such assessments, the board regularly explores the following questions: Will separation make eBay and PayPal more competitive? Will separation be possible without distracting innovation and execution? And, will separation create sustainable value for shareholders over time?
In its recently completed review, the board concluded:
- A changing competitive landscape creates enormous opportunities for eBay and PayPal; separation will create sharper strategic focus and better position each business to capitalize on those growth opportunities as independent companies. The pace of industry change and innovation in commerce and payments requires maximum flexibility to stay competitive and drive global leadership.
- The benefits of the existing relationships between eBay and PayPal will naturally decline over time and can be optimized in arm’s length operating agreements between the two entities. Arm’s length operating agreements can formalize the existing relationships between the two companies and capture ongoing synergies.
- This is the best path for delivering sustainable shareholder value. eBay is a leading global commerce platform that has benefited from PayPal, and PayPal is a strong, rapidly growing global payments leader because it has been part of eBay. But beyond 2015, eBay and PayPal will each benefit more and create greater value from the strategic focus, speed, flexibility and agility that come with being independent publicly traded companies.
The future
The company expects to complete the transaction as a tax-free spin-off in the second half of 2015, subject to market, regulatory and certain other conditions.
eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe and company CFO Bob Swan will be responsible for leading the separation of each business, with board oversight. This includes determining appropriate management and capital structures for eBay and PayPal, and putting in place appropriate operating agreements. Neither Donahoe nor Swan will have an executive management role in the new eBay and PayPal companies. But to provide continuity, they each expect to serve on one or both of the boards of the two companies.
The “new” eBay
Devin Wenig, currently president of eBay Marketplaces, will become CEO of the new eBay company. As CEO of eBay, Wenig will lead the eBay Marketplaces and eBay Enterprise businesses. Revenue over the last twelve months1 for these two businesses grew approximately 10% year-over-year to $9.9 billion, with eBay Marketplaces accounting for about $8.7 billion. eBay Marketplaces and eBay Enterprise collectively handled approximately $85 billion of gross merchandise volume and gross merchandise sales, which grew 13 percent year over year. Scott Schenkel, currently the CFO of eBay Marketplaces will become the CFO of the new eBay company.
A global commerce leader with 149 million active buyers, eBay is one of the world’s top 30 global brands and a top 10 retail global brand.2 Offering consumers worldwide extraordinary value and selection, eBay has more than 700 million live listings at any given time, and approximately 75% of sold items are new. eBay also is a leader in emerging competitive battlegrounds such as mobile and cross-border commerce. eBay has an installed mobile base of 200 million apps, generating $20 billion in mobile volume. Cross-border commerce represents 20% of eBay’s gross merchandise volume and 61% of Marketplaces revenue is international.
“eBay has been a leading innovator in the world of commerce for almost 20 years; it’s an incredibly special business,” Donahoe said. “Since joining eBay three years ago, Devin has proven to be an exceptional global leader and operating executive. He is steadily enhancing eBay’s unique assets and capabilities and creating new commerce experiences to ensure long-term growth and commerce leadership. He will make a fantastic CEO of eBay.”
The “new” PayPal
Concurrent with the announcement of the business separation plan, the company also today announced the appointment of Dan Schulman to be President of PayPal, effective immediately, and CEO-designee of the standalone PayPal company following separation.
Schulman joins PayPal from American Express, where he was president of the company’s Enterprise Growth Group. A seasoned leader in multiple industries, Schulman has held senior executive and CEO roles at AT&T, Priceline and Virgin Mobile, prior to joining American Express.
“As both a leading global technology platform and a financial services business, PayPal requires a diverse blend of leadership skills and operating experience in its president and future CEO,” Donahoe said. “Dan has a proven track record of leading complex technology businesses at scale, driving sustainable growth and understanding how to innovate to drive competitive advantage and deliver compelling experiences for customers. I am thrilled to have him lead PayPal forward as a publicly traded, independent global payments leader, and we welcome him to the team.”
PayPal is a rapidly growing global leader in digital payments and the most trusted digital wallet, with more than 152 million active registered accounts. Accounts grew 15% year-over-year last quarter. Revenue over the last 12 months grew by 19% over the prior year period to approximately $7.2 billion.
PayPal facilitates one in every six dollars spent online today. Total payments volume over the last 12 months increased by 26% to $203 billion, providing merchants and consumers worldwide a faster, safer way to pay and be paid. PayPal is fully localized in 26 currencies, is available in 203 markets worldwide and has relationships with 15,000 financial institutions. Representative of its global reach, PayPal is the No. 1 payments processor for business to consumer exports for Chinese merchants.
With acquisitions such as Braintree and its new One Touch mobile payments experience, PayPal continues to lead and innovate in mobile payments. One Touch is the industry’s first and only single touch payments experience. PayPal processed $27 billion in mobile payments volume in 2013. PayPal expects to process 1 billion mobile transactions in 2014.
A strong record of delivering shareholder value
Since 2008, eBay Inc.’s board and management team have led a successful turnaround of the company’s core eBay Marketplace business; have dramatically grown PayPal and drove digital payments innovation; and through 37 acquisitions have built a strong portfolio of global commerce and payments technologies, assets and capabilities.
The company’s board and management team have a clear track record of making the right decisions for eBay and its shareholders.
“Together, eBay and PayPal have delivered substantial value creation for our shareholders,” Donahoe said. “We believe eBay and PayPal will continue to do so as separate, independent companies. Tremendous opportunities exist for each business.”
Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Allen & Company LLC are serving as financial advisors and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz is serving as legal counsel to eBay Inc.
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Fuck PayPal.
+1
that's it, fuck ebay AND paypal
Since they had to relie on a an advisor, we know the total IQ of the company is less than 60 and that now prices are finally set to sore.
I agree on PayPal but I would like to say that Ebay used to be fun me and the wife used to sell all the stuff we no longer needed and fees were very simple back then and you could get paid by money order..
The layout was simple and easy to put up stuff and chit that we never thought was of any use to us -sold...now it's a total fucking joke to many options , screens etc .
now we only buy clothes for our selves and that's about it.
It Was fun..
After all, who controls the money controls every thing.
Money is a unit of time there Mr. Zero. No one controls, and it controls everyone. Fixed it for ya.
eBay To Spin Off PayPal
Good call.....I hear the black market is really gonna take off from here. Might as well get a cut of it.
~"Oh, and another winner: "Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Allen & Company LLC are serving as financial advisors to eBay Inc.""~
You've got to be squidding.
Think Vampire Squid. It's tentacles are EVERYwhere.
In the big scheme of things, does it really matter?
Not at all. It is a nothing move, just churn and chum.
Maybe eBay was trying to keep PayPal an honest business and Goldman has other plans for it.
it doesn't matter whether it is a spinoff or merger, buybacks or ipos, maggots like icahn loot the company then split before it crashes. funny how no matter what they do they claim to add value while in fact they only take, take, take. levered buyback, take, spinoff, take, levered merger, take, ipo, take, go private, take. take, take, take.
A sixty IQ really isn't to hard to overwhelm, I reached mine at the age of 29, and only with a 6th grade education to boot. you must be doing something wrong, are you spending alot of time daydreaming or having racing thoughts, are fairy dust and tooth fairy's blinding your vision, have you talked to a shrink lately? Any of these can be a symption of slow learning.
once again, it's seems this was done not because it was best for the company and it's employees or customers, but what's best for Icahn's wallet (and Goldman's)
It's easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to make it to heaven. Carl is a pip squeek of a man, sliding ever closer to his demise each and every day.
Dump while PayPal still has value. Bitcoin will destroy PayPal within a few years.
paypal is one hacking incident away from being worthless
Yeah.....same goes for bitcoins.
OK.....come on.....bring it.
You know the drill....send the useful idiots first.
last 12 months:
bitcoin up 400%
gold down 30%
silver down 30%
last 5 years:
bitcoin up 200,000%
gold up 0%
silver up 0%
To date the SHA256 bitcoin protocol has not been hacked or comprised.
signed, a useful idiot.
Are they considered legal tender for me to pay my global warming taxes?
Any comment about this?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/mt-gox-shutdown-a-major-blow-for-bitcoin-1.2550256
Do you remember the 1500 BC gold shutdown? Yeah....neither do I.
Gox , yawn. So if a bullion bank gets robbed does that mean the gold loses it's value ? If somebody wants to steal something that prooves it has value.
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/business/could-residents-soon-pay-their-t...
I forget....what is the atomic weight of bitcoins again?
Precisely zero. Which , like email and the web they have the ability to be transmitted anywhere over the internet at the speed of light , immune to capital controls thieveing tyrants and gatekeers. What a fantastic new payment system for our future global digitised economy.
Wait, do you want to pay taxes? This is the big question here. Do you want to pay taxes?
Gold?.... prisoner to paper gold... brass/lead will be metals to have,.. for now if you want 100% moves everday... cryptos!
PHS this week 100%+
http://phstones.com/mobile.php
I don't know, I see this more as Paypal dumping eBay than the reverse. eBay's just been spinning its wheels for years while Paypal has spread its tentacles everywhere.
yes, ebay just lost their prize jewels
Problems with Bitcoin:
1. The value of bitcoin changes to dramatically
2. I can't hold it in my hand
3. Few people trust it (I don't) or look at it then anything more then a novelty.
4. Few businesses except it.
Bitcoin.....bitcoin.....I'm seemed to have heard about that a lot last year.
Whatever....Goldman's plan to pawn Bitcoin is already in place. Just waiting execution if it ever comes out of junior's basement.
New payment systems will put an end to the high fees of paypal. But I foresee ebay also being sold. It's getting a little too long in the tooth with its exhorbitant fees.
Ebay died when they started charging 15% transaction fees to sellers. I didn't think anyone even still used them after that? I know I didn't after I discovered that. Paypal died when they started denying firearms related transactions. I won't do business with either at this point as most people won't. I wouldn't invest a plug nickle in either.
Our online business & our eBay store use PayPal for sales all the time because of it's ease of use.
Our eBay business does 10 to 1 sales compared to other online auction sites like Etsy. We've tried them all. They just don't have the web traffic.
Yes, their fees are a pain, but there is little alternative right now. Perhaps AliBaba will change the format.
I make about $20,000 a year on eBay for about 3 hours work a week selling antique collectables, so I can't complain + selling and buying collectibles is a fun hobby for many. It all depends on what you are selling. For new items, Amazon is the way to go.
Die allready Ichan
Why does everyone hate Icahn? the guy keeps worthless boards in check, while the boards are busy jacking each other off Icahn forces them to do their job. He's about the only one worth a shit in my opinion.
here at ZH, it's fashionable to hate everyone except Putin...
Maybe because they are smart enough to figure out he is a "corporate raider" and not an "activist investor," another term invented by the media to fool the herd by using meaningless, feel-good jargon. Activist investor sounds like some sort of benevolent savior that swoops in and rescues the company from the "bad executives." By using the word activist they are trying to liken these thieving scum to those who devote their lives to something worthy, like feeding starving children or saving the whales. Sickening.
Force them to do their job. How? By raiding the company's pension fund? By taking cash from the company and running up debts, then leaving the company to pick up the pieces?
How To Ruin A Company
"The first of the money men descended on Simplicity Pattern Co. in the autumn of 1979.
By the time they were finished a decade later, a company that once had $100 million in the bank was more than $100 million in the hole."
"In that decade, the money men:
-- Bought and sold the company four times and made tens of millions of dollars running up the price of Simplicity stock in threatened and actual takeovers.
-- Drained $100 million that Simplicity had in its bank account and investment portfolio.
-- Raided the company's pension funds on two occasions.
-- Issued bonds and borrowed from banks, sending the company's debt soaring from almost nothing to $100 million.
-- Sold off properties to raise badly needed cash after they had depleted the company's $100 million cushion.
-- Created so much debt that Simplicity could no longer generate enough cash to make interest payments.
-- Defaulted on the interest payments on bonds and bank loans."
"That transaction was especially lucrative for Icahn, whose businesses picked up a quick $15 million profit."
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19911103&slug=1...
"Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Allen & Company LLC are serving as financial advisors to eBay Inc."
ROFLMAO
What's an Ebay, and What's a Paypal? and if they go away will anyone even notice.
EBAY sucks. They suspend mom and pops as their business model is now Big Box wholesaling.
They pissed on the common folk that made them great.
Donahue can suck me off.
I betcha the fascists at EBAy and PAYPAL still will share information to fuck their sellers.
While I do like the eBay concept. It amazes that no other marketplace website has come along and trounced them. The reasons eBay now sucks are too long to list.
I agree with you but....Amazon has def filled alotta that niche.
----------------
While I do like the eBay concept. It amazes that no other marketplace website has come along and trounced them. The reasons eBay now sucks are too long to list.
Ebay used to be fun ... if someone can rebox the fun and this time avoid IPwhOre the fun may last.
Huh? Competition sometimes isnt so obvious. Craigslist and "yard sale" groups on Facebook have to have eaten into what is sold on eBay. I go to Amazon for new products instead of eBay.
Here's my order of purchasing something used.
Local Yard Sale.................................if not
Local Salvation Army..........................if not
Local United Way...............................if not
Local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store......if not
Local Pawn Broker..............................if not
Then Craigslist...................................if not
Then Ebay........................................if not
Then...if I have NO choice but to buy new then
Local Yard Sale.................................if not
Local Salvation Army..........................if not
Local United Way...............................if not
Local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store......if not
Local Pawn Broker..............................if not
Then Craigslist...................................if not
Then Ebay........................................if not
Then.....I don't buy it. Screw Amazon and Wal Mart.
Tremendous opportunities=increased fees.
I have to admit though I can often get much higher prices for something on ebay than say vs. the local ads. So you have to compare that with the 13% fees from ebay and paypal combined. In many cases it's worth it. However still excessive imo. It's a psychological thing as well: Get 1k on ebay and do nothing but bitch about the 13% or sell locally for $400 and be satisfied you didn't have to deal with all the online logistics. It is what it is.
No job security for PayPal's G&A employees.
Two years after the spin off, Company will be sold.
They'd sell it now if they could avoid the taxes.
This gimmick worked for Brink's when they spun off BHS.
BHS existed for exactly 2 years as a public company.
Until Tyco bought it and consolidated it with ADP.
It was probably the plan from the beginning.
eBay still has to convine the IRS that it qualifies.
No problem in the fascist state.
Icahn and Goldman.....Schulman... Rosen...Katz....
Of course.
PayPals domination by the banksters is a fact certain.
Great time for a competitor to PayPal to emerge?
PayPal will thrive once full bitcoin integration is complete. People will want to use a familiar name (PayPal) to hold their bitcoin. E-Bay has major competition from de-centralized marketplaces (ie: Open Bazzar)...
No, PayPal will just become another whore.
(In my ledger/joker voice)
Ha.
Hee.
Ho.
Icahn, all he has is a membership in the free money club. That's it.
He's not intelligent, he has no acumen and no vision. Just free money.
Think of it, how much there is left to wreck.
i visited paypal when i worked for gateway computers in around 1998 or so. they were just getting off the ground. went to their "office" in omaha. it was literally a strip mall office with a bunch of 22 year old kids with dell laptops doing coke and drinking cases of beer while playing half-life. shit everywhere. levchin had an office in the back where he sat and layed a guitar all day. i knew then it was destind for greatness.
How could a WORLD MONEY TRASACTION system have been a
".. 22 year old kids with dell laptops doing coke and drinking cases of beer while playing half-life."
are you kidding me ?
Ever heard of Facebook or Twitter ?
The product is a representation of the developers and their habits.
If this sort of thing doesn't convince you that financiers control all enterprise and the economy of the world, then nothing will.
"And so Carl Icahn wins again,"
how come i never "win again" ? i never win. even my stockpile has expired & rotting away.
Its only a headline.
Did you expect to see "'Carl Icahn 3 time loser on Talisman'
Knew something was up, got a call Friday wanting to talk to my father about his Paypal account. He died before there was a paypal
Integrity is digested by powerful squid enzymes as usual. Don't be tasty if succeeding is the game.
Only a brain dead idiot is selling on ebay
the insersion fees, closing fees and paypal fees
put a primium of almost 20% on everything sold!
TWENTY FUCKING PERCENT !
I have not sold anything on ebay since 2007.
And to buy, I look up the sellers name on google finding a cheaper website from the same dude most of the time.