NEW YORK, March 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Starboard
Value LP (together with its affiliates, "Starboard"), one of the
largest shareholders of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), with an ownership
interest of more than 1.0% of the Company's outstanding shares,
today announced that it has delivered a letter to Thomas J. Tierney, eBay's Chairman of the Board,
with copies to the Company's Board of Directors.
The full text of Starboard's letter can be viewed below and also
at the following link:
http://www.starboardvalue.com/wp-content/uploads/Starboard_Value_LP_Letter_to_EBAY_Board_03.19.2020.pdf
March 19, 2020
eBay Inc.
2025 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, California 95125
Attn: Thomas Tierney, Chairman
cc: Board of Directors
Dear Tom,
As you know, Starboard Value LP, together with its affiliates
("Starboard" or "we") is a large shareholder of eBay Inc. ("eBay or
the "Company"), with an ownership interest of more than 1% of the
outstanding common stock of eBay. We have appreciated our
conversations over the past 18 months and the heightened
discussions over the last few weeks. We fully recognize the
unique state of the markets and the country as we collectively deal
with the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore, we feel it is imperative
to both fully express the importance of hiring a world-class,
experienced leader for eBay and to share our views publicly with
the Board of Directors (the "Board") and our fellow
shareholders.
We have consistently expressed that our focus is on driving
operational improvements in the core Marketplace business while
pursuing a separation of StubHub and eBay Classifieds Group
("Classifieds"). While eBay has made progress on some of
these initiatives, much work remains to be done and business trends
in the core Marketplace business have continued on a downward
trajectory.
During our time as shareholders of eBay, it has become
increasingly clear that the current Board has had difficulty making
the critical decisions that the Company has needed, as evidenced by
the delay in making a CEO change that seemed inevitable after
sustained underperformance, acceptance of a subpar operating plan
following an eight month-long Operating Review, as well as the
delay in the Strategic Review of eBay's non-core businesses.
As you know, we have been privately engaging with you regarding our
views on the actions needed to position eBay for long-term future
success, including the hiring of a new Chief Executive, completing
the Strategic Review of Classifieds and separating the business
from the core Marketplace business, and building and executing upon
an improved operating plan to drive growth and profit improvements
in the core Marketplace business.
Based on the completion of the sale of StubHub and the Company's
confirmation of active discussions regarding a sale of Classifieds,
at this time, we are primarily focused on the CEO search process
and the development of an improved operating plan. In our
view, the CEO search process and the development of an improved
operating plan are directly and inextricably linked. eBay is a
great company, and we believe the open CEO position is a tremendous
opportunity that should be able to attract a number of
high-caliber, external candidates.
We appreciate the efforts and positive contributions made by the
current team over the past six months following the departure of
the former CEO, as well as their many years of service to the
Company. However, we strongly believe that eBay should be
focused on identifying qualified external candidates in order to
hire a new CEO that will bring a fresh perspective and energy to
the Company after its prolonged underperformance. The new CEO
must be capable of making sustainable improvements to the core
Marketplace business that can drive profitable growth by focusing
on eBay's strengths and competitive advantages.
We believe this CEO decision is critical for the long-term
success of eBay. eBay has a strong franchise and a huge
opportunity to reinvigorate and grow a global marketplace platform.
This opportunity should attract a world-class executive who
can bring new energy, fresh ideas, and significant relevant
experience to help drive an operational and strategic
turnaround. We implore the Board to choose a leader that has
the skill and capability to lead the Company through a transition
in a time of great economic transformation. Unfortunately,
given our concerns over certain historical decisions, we worry that
the Board may default to an internal candidate, which we believe
would be a missed opportunity to bring in a talented executive with
the attributes highlighted above.
Separately, as we have discussed with you, we also believe that
incremental change is required and warranted on the Board in order
to provide fresh perspectives, renewed accountability to
shareholders, and importantly, the objectivity and perspective to
make difficult decisions without the burden of attachment to past
practices. As such, in accordance with the Company's
governance deadlines and in order to preserve our rights as
shareholders, on February 28, 2020,
we delivered to eBay a formal notice nominating four highly
qualified and diverse director candidates for election at the 2020
Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
When evaluating potential director candidates, we endeavored to
craft a slate of directors who have a diverse set of skills and
backgrounds that, in aggregate, provide the expertise and
independence needed at eBay. As you can see in the detailed
biographies included below, this group of extremely impressive
director candidates have backgrounds spanning operations, finance,
e-commerce, payments, media, marketing, communications, mergers and
acquisitions, strategic transformation, and public company
governance.
Our goal is to represent the best interests of all shareholders,
and we believe that our nominees have the experience and track
record to drive needed change and bring fresh perspectives to eBay
to best position the Company for long-term shareholder value
creation. We remain open-minded about reaching a mutually
agreeable solution that includes new perspectives on the Board. We
look forward to continuing our engagement.
Best regards and stay healthy,
Peter A. Feld
Managing Member
Starboard Value LP
Biographies of Starboard's Nominees (in alphabetical
order):
Shannon M. Brayton
- Ms. Brayton most recently served as the Chief Marketing Officer
of LinkedIn, where she oversaw all marketing activities at the
company until she retired from her position in January of
2020.
- Ms. Brayton joined LinkedIn in 2010 as its Vice President of
Communications before becoming Chief Marketing Officer in 2015. In
her role as Vice President, Ms. Brayton was responsible for the
communications strategy for LinkedIn's IPO in 2011, and she and her
team are also credited with managing the communications strategy
for the company's acquisition by Microsoft in 2016.
- Ms. Brayton previously served in various positions at eBay,
from October 2001 until May 2008, ultimately as Vice President of
Corporate Communications.
- She was named one of the world's most influential CMOs for
three consecutive years by Forbes Magazine.
Peter A. Feld
- Mr. Feld is a Managing Member and Head of Research at Starboard
Value LP. Prior to founding Starboard, he was a Managing Director
at Ramius and a Portfolio Manager at Ramius Value and Opportunity
Master Fund Ltd.
- Mr. Feld currently serves as a director of NortonLifeLock Inc.,
AECOM, and Magellan Health, Inc.
- Mr. Feld previously served as a director of Marvell Technology
Group Ltd., The Brink's Company, Darden Restaurants, Inc.,
Insperity, Inc., and Integrated Device Technology, Inc., among
others.
Eddy W. Hartenstein
- Mr. Hartenstein currently serves as the Lead Independent
Director of the Board of Directors of Broadcom Inc. and Sirius XM
Holdings Inc.
- Mr. Hartenstein also currently serves on the Board of Directors
of TiVo Corporation and has served as a director of Tribune
Publishing Co. since August 2014 and
was Non-Executive Chairman until February
2016.
- Previously, Mr. Hartenstein served as Publisher and Chief
Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Times Media Group.
- Prior to Tribune Publishing Co.'s January, 2013 change of
ownership, Mr. Hartenstein was also President and Chief Executive
Officer of Tribune Media Company, one of the country's leading
multimedia companies, operating businesses in publishing, digital
and broadcasting.
- Mr. Hartenstein served as DirecTV's Chairman and CEO through
2004, when the company was sold to News Corp.
- Mr. Hartenstein previously served on the board of directors of
SanDisk Corporation.
Stephanie Tilenius
- Ms. Tilenius is a founder and CEO of Vida Health, Inc., a
mobile continuous care platform for preventing, managing and
overcoming chronic and mental health conditions deployed at Fortune
500 companies, large national payers and providers since
January 2014.
- Ms. Tilenius currently serves as a member of the Board of
Directors of Seagate Technology PLC. Within the past five years,
Ms. Tilenius also served on the board of Coach, Inc. (now known as
Tapestry, Inc.), and Redbubble Limited.
- From February 2010 until
June 2012, Ms. Tilenius was Vice
President of Global Commerce and Payments at Google, Inc. (now
known as Alphabet, Inc.), a multinational technology company, where
she oversaw digital commerce, product search and payments.
- Prior to joining Google, Inc., she served in various positions
at eBay, from March 2001 until
October 2009, ultimately as Senior
Vice President of eBay.com and Global Products.
About Starboard Value LP
Starboard Value LP is a
New York-based investment adviser
with a focused and differentiated fundamental approach to investing
primarily in publicly traded U.S. companies. Starboard invests in
deeply undervalued companies and actively engages with management
teams and boards of directors to identify and execute on
opportunities to unlock value for the benefit of all
shareholders.
Investor contacts:
Peter Feld, (212) 201-4878
Gavin Molinelli (212) 201-4828
www.starboardvalue.com
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/starboard-delivers-letter-to-board-of-ebay-301026519.html
SOURCE Starboard Value LP