SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- eBay Inc.
(Nasdaq: EBAY), a global commerce leader that connects millions of
buyers and sellers around the world, today issued the following
statement regarding the letter to eBay released by Starboard Value
LP ("Starboard") this morning:
The eBay Board of Directors includes a director jointly
nominated and agreed upon with Starboard, a representative of one
of our largest shareholders, Elliott Management, and other strong,
experienced and independent directors. The Board and eBay's
management team are aligned in their commitment to taking all
appropriate steps to drive the value of the Company. Our Board and
management team have implemented changes based on investor input
and have taken significant actions to deliver long-term shareholder
value and strengthen the business. Through that lens, we will
review Starboard's letter and perspectives as we continue to
rigorously review our business and opportunities for growth and
value creation.
In 2019, we made a number of decisions to enhance value that led
to positive results and positioned the Company for future growth,
including:
- Delivering on our financial commitments – results
were at the high end or better than our January 2019 full year guidance – including
growth of Organic FX-Neutral revenues, non-GAAP EPS, and Free Cash
Flow
- Scaling growth initiatives – accelerated our
Managed Payments transformation in the US and Germany while tracking towards $2 billion of revenue and $500 million of operating income in 2022 and
doubled Promoted listings Advertising revenue in 2019 to nearly
$400 million
- Delivering better margins – delivered 2
points of margin improvement in 2019 enabling 1 point of
reinvestment in Payments and Advertising; announced 2 points
of additional operating margin by 2022, taking total operating
margin rate to at least 30%
- Returning significant capital to shareholders –
implemented our first ever dividend while repurchasing $5.0 billion of common stock in 2019, bringing
the total shares repurchased since July
2015 to 35%, returning over 150% of Free Cash Flow
- Executing on portfolio transformation –
performed a strategic business review resulting in an agreement to
sell StubHub to viagogo for over $4
billion in cash and are on track to share an update on
Classifieds mid-year 2020
- Refreshing Board with investor perspectives
– added two new independent directors
within the past year to our experienced, focused and deeply engaged
Board, including a director jointly nominated and agreed upon with
Starboard and a representative of one of our largest shareholders,
Elliott Management. Since 2016, five new independent directors have
joined the Board, adding complementary and relevant skillsets,
leadership and diversity, and the Board continues to be led by an
independent chair.
While eBay's Board and leadership team are confident that the
above actions will help us achieve our previously-stated priorities
for 2020 and position eBay for sustainable, profitable long-term
growth, we remain open to all value-enhancing opportunities.
About eBay
eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) is a global commerce leader including
the Marketplace, StubHub and Classifieds platforms. Collectively,
we connect millions of buyers and sellers around the world,
empowering people and creating opportunity for all. Founded in 1995
in San Jose, California, eBay is
one of the world's largest and most vibrant marketplaces for
discovering great value and unique selection. In 2019, eBay enabled
$90 billion of gross merchandise
volume. For more information about the company and its global
portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating
to, among other things, the future performance of eBay Inc. and its
consolidated subsidiaries that are based on the company's current
expectations, forecasts and assumptions and involve risks and
uncertainties. These statements include, but are not limited to,
statements regarding the future performance of eBay Inc. and its
consolidated subsidiaries, including expected financial results for
the first quarter and full year 2020 and the future growth in its
business, operating efficiency and margins, reinvestments,
dividends, share repurchases, and the expected timing of the
announcements regarding the company's strategic portfolio review,
including the timing and other expectations regarding the sale of
StubHub to viagogo. Actual results could differ materially from
those predicted or implied and reported results should not be
considered as an indication of future performance. Other factors
that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are
not limited to: changes in political, business and economic
conditions, any regional or general economic downturn or crisis and
any conditions that affect ecommerce growth or cross-border trade;
the company's ability to realize expected growth opportunities in
payments intermediation and advertising; the outcome of the
strategic portfolio review; fluctuations in foreign currency
exchange rates; the company's need to successfully react to the
increasing importance of mobile commerce and the increasing social
aspect of commerce; an increasingly competitive environment for its
business; changes to the company's capital allocation, including
the timing, declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends
or levels of the company's share repurchases, or management of
operating cash; the company's ability to increase operating
efficiency to drive margin improvements and enable reinvestments;
the company's ability to manage its indebtedness, including
managing exposure to interest rates and maintaining its credit
ratings; the company's need to manage an increasingly large
enterprise with a broad range of businesses of varying degrees of
maturity and in many different geographies; the ability to
successfully intermediate payments on our marketplace platform;
the company's need and ability to manage regulatory, tax, data
security and litigation risks; whether the operational, marketing
and strategic benefits of the separation of the eBay and PayPal
businesses can be achieved; the company's ability to timely upgrade
and develop its technology systems, infrastructure and customer
service capabilities at reasonable cost while maintaining site
stability and performance and adding new products and features; and
the company's ability to integrate, manage and grow businesses that
have been acquired or may be acquired in the future.
The forward-looking statements in this release do not include
the potential impact of any acquisitions or divestitures that may
be announced and/or completed after the date hereof.
More information about factors that could affect the company's
operating results is included under the captions "Risk Factors" and
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations" in the company's most recent Annual Report
on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by visiting the
company's Investor Relations website
at https://investors.ebayinc.com or the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the
forward-looking statements in this press release, which are based
on information available to the company on the date hereof. The
company assumes no obligation to update such statements.
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ebay-comments-on-letter-from-starboard-value-300998812.html
SOURCE eBay Inc.