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From Randy Smythe:

Quote:10 Reasons Why Meg Whitman will Leave eBay by Q3 '08...

2. She is very close to Mitt Romney, and is National Funding Co-Chair of 2008 Presidential Campaign. If he gets the Republican nomination for President in the Spring, look for her to become more active in his campaign. I certainly don't believe she would leave eBay to work on his campaign but if he is elected President I would think that a Cabinet Post would be too hard to turn-down. Put this reason down under outside influences that might affect her decision.

3. Within the next 6 months, the current Buyer Experience initiatives will be in full effect and the changes will have become a huge part of her legacy. If the changes are effective and turn-around the Marketplace business, she could go out on top. If the changes don't fix the problems then investors will start to grumble even more than they are now and there will be a call for change. Either way, I see a change coming.

full article: http://rksmythe.blogspot.com/2007/09/10-...leave.html

Related news:

Quote:eBay chief executive Meg Whitman is preparing to step down after 10 years in the post, according to reports.

The Wall Street Journal cites sources suggesting that 51-year-old Whitman is ready to retire from her position as head of the online auction company, with a number of potential replacements apparently jostling to take over.

Whitman, who joined the company in 1998 after a career with Procter & Gamble and Disney, is reported to be ready to hand over the reins when she reaches a decade in the job later this year. In the past she has said that nobody should remain as CEO of a company for more than 10 years.

Frontrunner to replace her is John Donahoe, a senior executive who runs the company's auction business and was brought into eBay by Whitman in 2005 from a management consultancy firm...

full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/200...ay.whitman

Quote:Long-serving eBay sultana Meg Whitman is set to hang up her hammer within weeks, it's reported, as the web's number one tat bazaar struggles to restore trust and respond to new challengers.

The 51-year-old has been gradually handing over her day-to-day responsiblities to her deputies, according to the anonymous eBay sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. John Donahue, current boss of the core auction business, is frontrunner to replace her.

A final decision could be imminent, the paper reckons, although the "situation remains fluid", which we assume is strategy speak for "she might change her mind"...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/22/..._retiring/

Update:

Quote:Whitman to leave eBay March 31

Meg Whitman will soon step down as chief executive of eBay Inc., the online auction company that went from wobbly startup to multibillion-dollar household name in her 10-year tenure.

Whitman, 51, had been reported to be plotting the move and handing the job to John Donahoe, 47, who has been heading eBay's core auction and e-commerce businesses. She confirmed her March 31 departure as eBay reported fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday.

Whitman will remain on eBay's board of directors.

full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1..._ebay.html

Another update: Bill Cobb is also resigning as president of eBay Marketplaces Operations

Quote:Meanwhile, eBay promoted Rajiv Dutta, president of PayPal, to executive vice president of eBay. He will also replace Donahoe as president of eBay’s marketplaces unit. Scott Thompson, PayPal’s CTO, will replace Dutta as president of PayPal. Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, is also stepping down. Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay’s international unit, will take over Cobb’s duties and become president of eBay Marketplaces Operations.

full article: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=7687

Quote:***A Message from Meg Whitman*** 

January 23, 2008 | 01:04PM PST/PT

Many of you know I've said in the past that 10 years was about the right amount of time for any CEO to stay at the helm of a company. Now that I’ve reached that milestone myself, I still believe this. It's time for eBay, and this community, to have a new leadership team, a new perspective and a new vision.

As we announced today, I will step down as eBay’s President and CEO on March 31, 2008, and our current head of eBay Marketplaces, John Donahoe, will succeed me in my role. Rajiv Dutta, our current president of PayPal and former CFO for several years, will replace John as the president of eBay Marketplaces. You’ll be hearing more from them and their teams in the coming weeks and months.

Looking back, I was given a remarkable opportunity when Pierre Omidyar, eBay’s founder, asked me to join eBay in January 1998. Ten years later, I couldn’t be more in awe of what we accomplished together. When I joined eBay, it was a small site, in some ways still very much an experiment. Most people didn’t know, or didn’t believe, that perfect strangers would trade with one another, and that they could almost always be counted on to do the right thing.

Over the course of a decade, you have helped revolutionize the way people use the Internet, buy and sell things, create and grow businesses, and connect with each other. In 2007 alone, our community of hundreds of millions of people around the world traded more than $60 billion in goods. Millions found the courage to tap their entrepreneurial spirit and start businesses. Millions more have pursued passions and made connections that will last a lifetime. And countless others found that perfect thing – an old high school yearbook, a favorite toy from their youth – that they couldn’t get anywhere else.

I am truly astounded by what has been built here. And all the credit goes to you, our community. You took the chances to start businesses. You created markets for products where there were none before. You defined what it means to be a good citizen in this Internet-enabled world. And yes, we hit a few bumps along with way, but that's to be expected when you’re building something that has never existed before. But even, and especially, during those times, I was always inspired by the passion you showed.

It’s with great pride and a strong sense of accomplishment that I leave this post and hand it over to the capable leaders we have in John and Rajiv. I’ve known both of them for many years and have believed for a long time that they are the ideal people to steer eBay into the future.

eBay is in my blood and always will be, so I'm not stepping back completely; I will remain on eBay’s Board of Directors. And of course, I'll keep buying and selling on the site.

I'm so very honored to have worked with you in building this incredible community. Thank you for letting me be a part of it for the last decade.

Meg

Whitman may run for California governor:

Quote:As she prepares to depart from EBay after a decade at the helm, Chief Executive Meg Whitman appears to be investigating a new career -- in politics.

Whitman has talked with top Republicans about the possibility of a run for California governor in 2010, according to three operatives who have had discussions with her. Whitman is said to be asking detailed questions about the logistics of a run and the effect she could have as governor, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the conversations.

full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politi...8915.story

Interview with Meg Whitman and John Donahoe:

Quote: I just got off the phone with Meg Whitman, eBay’s departing CEO, and John Donahoe, her successor. Whitman talks about her biggest successes (going global and buying Paypal) and her biggest mistake (losing Japan), gets a dig in at Skype’s founders, and ruminates about whether Facebook can become a platform for commerce. Donahoe talks about eBay’s (EBAY) renewed focus on fixed-price items, its commitment to distribute listings across the Web, and how he sees those listings as a huge advertising inventory...

full article: http://seekingalpha.com/article/61483-ex...urce=yahoo