Online retail giant eBay said Thursday it had reached a deal with activist investor Carl Icahn, who had demanded a spin-off of the payment division PayPal. Icahn, who had been leading a campaign to split up the ecommerce giant, reached a deal with eBay that calls for the naming of a new independent member of the board of directors.
The company said it agreed to Icahn's suggestion to appoint former AT&T chairman and chief executive David Dorman as an independent director. The deal ends a months-old dispute with Icahn, who had assailed eBay for poor management and claimed that keeping eBay tied with PayPal depressed the value of both units. "We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Mr Icahn, settling proxy issues and enabling our board and management team to focus our full attention on a goal every shareholder agrees on - growing PayPal and eBay, and delivering sustainable shareholder value," said eBay's president and chief executive John Donahoe.