Tomahawk, WI 10/22/2014 (Basicsmedia) – Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn is getting his way around eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) after VC, Marc Andreessen, tendered his resignation from the board in the wake of increased criticism. During an interview on CNBC, Icahn reiterated that eBay’s CEO, John Donahoe, move to keep Andreessen was one of the biggest errors.
Icahn believes that a spinoff of the two company will have to come into play sooner than later as one of the ways ensuring PayPal is able to fend off competition from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s PayPal. The investor also remains confident of eBay’s CEO promise of improving shareholder value after holding meetings with him.
“PayPal is great but they could disappear quickly if something isn’t done quickly. I’d like them to explore selling right now as opposed to waiting for this year to go by,” said Mr. Icahn
The wait for a spinoff is set to take longer after eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) reiterated that the process will only be carried out in the second half of 2015 to the dissatisfaction of Icahn. eBay’s sixth largest investor Icahn was the first one to suggest the spinoff in January although, at the time, the company was not interested in discussing such a move.
Separation is expected to give PayPal more scope with retailers in the wake of Apple unveiling Apple Pay that is set to pose the biggest challenge as a payment system. A separation could also make both eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) and PayPal attractive as takeover prospects.
“PayPal is a jewel right now because it really controls all the small merchants online, and they like him and they get along with PayPal. PayPal I almost necessary but that is not going to last forever with Apple Pay there and am sure the Android is going to get into it,” said Mr. Icahn.