Activist Seeks Slate of Picks For eBay Board -- WSJ

By Corrie Driebusch and Cara Lombardo 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 12, 2020).

EBay Inc. is facing a renewed challenge from activist investor Starboard Value LP, which has nominated a slate of directors to the board of the online marketplace, according to people familiar with the matter.

Starboard, which last year won the right to help fill one seat on eBay's board, privately nominated an additional minority slate of directors recently, the people said. Assuming there isn't some sort of settlement by then, the nominees would be up for election at the San Jose, Calif., company's annual meeting in June.

Starboard has publicly expressed frustration that eBay hasn't moved quickly enough to sell its online-classified-ads business or make changes to its board. Ebay recently closed the roughly $4 billion sale of its StubHub ticketing business. That leaves the company with the classified business and its core marketplace, which connects buyers and sellers of everything from electronics to collectibles.

It couldn't be learned how many directors Starboard nominated to eBay's 14-person board. Among the nominees is Starboard's head of research, Peter Feld, who also sits on the boards of companies including NortonLifeLock Inc.

The move comes after a tumultuous period for eBay, a darling of the early Internet economy whose marketplace business has been eroded by the rise of Amazon.com Inc.

Starboard and eBay have been in discussions on and off in recent weeks, some of the people said, and in late February eBay said it's exploring options for the classifieds business, which primarily operates overseas.

Ebay said it's in discussions with multiple potential buyers of the unit, which could be worth $10 billion. Private-equity firms including TPG and Blackstone Group Inc., as well as internet conglomerate Naspers Ltd., German publishing company Axel Springer SE and others have expressed interest, people familiar with the matter have said.

The marketplace business has also drawn takeover interest. New York Stock Exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange Inc. approached eBay about a deal before its own shareholders balked, forcing it to back off the idea.

EBay, which has a market value of roughly $28 billion, has been without a permanent chief executive since Devin Wenig departed in September following clashes with the board. The interim CEO is Scott Schenkel, who previously served as chief financial officer.

Another activist, Elliott Management Corp., has board representation in the form of a seat for Jesse Cohn, a senior official at the hedge-fund firm. Starboard said in February that it owns more than 1% of eBay's shares, while Elliott has said it owns a stake of more than 4%

Write to Corrie Driebusch at [e-mail] and Cara Lombardo at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 12, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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