E-commerce giant eBay Inc. (EBAY), Wednesday appreciated Carl Icahn veering around to the view that a complete separation of its PayPal unit does not make sense, and also brushed aside his call for a 20 percent spin-off of the payment processor.
The response was a sequel to activist investor Icahn who earlier in the day called for eBay to divest 20 percent of PayPal - the payment processing business it acquired for $1.5 billion in 2002.
Icahn, who has been pushing eBay to fully separate PayPal, has changed tack and now says that a partial IPO of PayPal will result in two highly-focused and dedicated companies that will enhance shareholder value.
Such a move, Icahn said, will also enable eBay to have commercial partnership with PayPal, and eBay, with the remainder stake, can retain synergies with PayPal.
Icahn further defended his proposal as outside of PayPal, there does not exist a global payment processing solution competent enough to service eBay's users.
In a statement, San Jose, California-based eBay said it is glad that Icahn now seems to agree that a full separation of PayPal is not a good idea and that PayPal thrives by being part of the company.
eBay also said its board continues to seek ways to enhance growth and shareholder value.
In the past five years, PayPal and eBay have generated a 441 percent increase in share price for investors, and that being together is the best path to sustainable shareholder value, eBay said.
eBay also said it does not believe that a partial spin-off will make PayPal more competitive and accelerate growth.
Icahn has since late January been pushing for eBay to fully spin off its PayPal business. The move came after he said he acquired a 2 percent interest in eBay and nominated two of his employees to the eBay board.
Icahn also castigated eBay's directors Marc Andreessen and Scott Cook, accusing them of having conflicts of interest. But eBay brushed aside all the charges.
eBay is the among the technology companies Icahn has invested in recently. In early January, Icahn tweeted he has raised his stake in iPhone maker Apple Inc (AAPL) by $500 million. He had backed off his complaints at Apple's board for not having a larger stock buyback than the one announced in May 2013.
eBay stock closed Wednesday at $57.30, down $0.54 or 0.93%, on a volume of 6.4 million shares on the Nasdaq.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
December 26, 2025 08:42 ET Third quarter economic growth data from some major economies including the U.S. were the main news in this holiday shortened week. GDP growth and industrial production data from the U.S. helped to boost morale, while the consumer confidence survey results were less upbeat. In Europe, the quarterly economic growth data from the U.K. drew attention, while the minutes of the Australian central bank’s latest policy session was in focus in Asia.