EBay Inc said it would spin off PayPal, its fast-growing payments business, into a publicly traded company in the second half of 2015, marking an about-face for the company.<\/p>\n
EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe had resisted demands by activist investor Carl Icahn to hive off the service, saying PayPal was integral to eBay’s business – and vice versa. Icahn backed off from his demand in April.<\/p>\n
“A thorough strategic review with our board shows that keeping eBay and PayPal together beyond 2015 clearly becomes less advantageous to each business strategically and competitively,” Donahoe said in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
After the tax-free spinoff to shareholders, the new eBay will be headed by Devin Wenig, president of eBay Marketplaces and former head of the Markets division of Thomson Reuters Corp .<\/p>\n
American Express Co executive Dan Schulman joins PayPal immediately as president and CEO of PayPal after the spinoff, the company said.<\/p>\n
Donahoe and Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan will oversee the separation and serve on the boards of both companies.<\/p>\n
PayPal was founded in the late 1990s and went public in 2002. It was acquired by eBay soon afterward for $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n
PayPal had 143 million active users at the end of 2013, up 16 percent from a year earlier.<\/p>\n
Icahn digs into eBay over Skype sale<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n EBay founder rejects Icahn\u2019s PayPal plans<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n