main
Report a problem

Meg Whitman to Step Down as eBay CEO

Sagittarius   on 24 January 2008 - 00:23 · 10 comments & 18542 views

Advertisement (Why?)
Popular online auction site eBay announced today that Meg Whitman would be stepping down as President and CEO of eBay on March 31, 2008, though she would remain on the company's board of directors. Whitman, who joined eBay in March 1998, helped it grow from an auction-based trading site with 500,000 registered users, just 30 employees, and $4.7 million in revenue to a company that has hundreds of millions of users worldwide, more than 15,000 employees and nearly $7.7 billion in revenue.

Meg’s passion for all things eBay changed the world,” said Pierre Omidyar, Founder of eBay and Chairman of the Board. “With humor, smarts and unflappable determination, Meg took a small, barely known online auction site and helped it become an integral part of our lives. We’re all enormously grateful that Meg dedicated herself to stewarding eBay through its 10 most formative years.

Replacing Whitman will as President and CEO will be John Donahoe, who came to eBay in February 2005 from Bain & Company. For nearly three years, Donahoe has been President of eBay Marketplaces, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the company’s global revenues. In this role, Donahoe has been responsible for the growth of eBay and its other ecommerce businesses around the world, and during the time he has managed this business unit, both revenues and profits doubled.

In addition, eBay announced several more changes to its corporate lineup: Rajiv Dutta, currently the President of PayPal, has been named Executive Vice President of eBay Inc. and will also replace Donahoe as President of eBay Marketplaces. Scott Thompson, PayPal’s current Chief Technology Officer, will replace Dutta as President of PayPal. And, finally, Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America, has decided to step down from his
role, with Lorrie Norrington, currently President of eBay International, slated to pick up Cobb's duties.

Post a comment · Send to friend Comments · There are 10 additional comments
(3 replies) #1 Raaab on 24 Jan 2008 - 01:08
Ebay.....The worlds largest garage sale. By the time you pay Ebay fee's, Paypal fee's.....you profit absolutely nothing.....lol
#1.1 Slimy on 24 Jan 2008 - 02:52
there are paypal fees?
#1.2 Skyfrog on 24 Jan 2008 - 03:03
For sellers yes, not for buyers. That and ebay takes a percentage of your final sale as well as listing fees. It's really hard to make anything with it these days. I remember when there was only a listing fee and it wasn't very much, and that was it. They even had free listing days, haven't seen that in a long time. Now along with constantly raising the fees they are adding more all the time. I guess that's what happens when you have a monopoly.
#1.3 macrosslover on 24 Jan 2008 - 09:48
you ain't kidding, the fees are crazy now. I remember selling a collectors edition of the Burning Crusade for like $85 and after paypal and ebay fees were factored in, ended up paying them like around $4 dollars. Haven't been back since.

I've heard people say they've had good experiences with Amazon marketplace, but I've never tried it.
#2 swandike on 24 Jan 2008 - 02:13
(2 replies) #3 vetneufuse on 24 Jan 2008 - 02:51
Wonder what ways the new CEO can find to screw us out of profits via fees......
#3.1 SomeAzn on 24 Jan 2008 - 03:20
you wouldn't have any profit if it wasn't for eBay in the first place.
#3.2 vetneufuse on 24 Jan 2008 - 03:58
(SomeAzn said @ #3.1)
you wouldn't have any profit if it wasn't for eBay in the first place.


Not really... there are flea markets all over the place you can sell stuff for just as much... other auction sites also... but taking up to 12% of the final value is ridicilous... not sure what the fees are now but Paypal + ebay fees are taking a large chunk out of profits if you profit at all
#4 travelcard on 24 Jan 2008 - 09:29
Buying Skype proved to be a disaster.
#5 boho on 24 Jan 2008 - 11:31
Anyone who has used Ebay or Paypal, will have a love hate relationship. Ebay is a good idea, IMO, Paypal is evil and corrupt, with almost no legal protection as most other finance systems. I would not touch Paypal; though can't be bothered to sell my old junk anyway, that is what charity shops are for!

Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!

Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.

Advertisement (Why?)