America based e-commerce company eBay Inc. (EBAY) has appointed the Chief operation officer of fellow retailer Walmart Inc. (WMT), Jamie Iannone, as its new Chief executive officer.
This appointment comes at a time when eBay has been facing constant pressure from activist investor Starboard Value to reshuffle and inject new blood in its top management positions. Starboard Value holds more than 1% of eBay’s shares.
During last month, Starboard made clear its intentions of introducing 4 members to the 14-member board of eBay, additionally, Starboard also advocated for the company to appoint an external person as its CEO.
Few weeks ago Starboard accused eBay of being slow in separating its classified business operations from its marketplace businesses.
Previously, Iannone was serving as chief operations officer of Walmart’s eCommerce division. Nonetheless, Iannone won’t be a visitor in eBay as he has previously worked in the retailer holding several positions, the last position he held prior to his departure a decade ago was vice president.
“In my previous experience with the company, I developed a deep appreciation for what makes eBay so special. eBay’s success has always been rooted in its robust C2C platform. I believe the company has tremendous opportunities to capitalize on this foundation, innovate for the future and grow its ecosystem. I look forward to working with our global teams to enhance buyer experiences and provide more capabilities that will help small businesses sustain and grow. I will focus on continuing to evolve the company’s strategy while delivering on eBay’s commitment to maximize long-term shareholder value,” said Iannone following his appointment.
The first task at hand which the new CEO will have to face is the coronavirus pandemic which has slowed down every economy in the entire world. Shareholders of eBay are waiting to see how he will address the issue of shareholders equity and how he will respond to it during this time of the pandemic.
Last year, eBay resulted to selling its ticketing unit, Stub Hub after Starboard and Elliott Management Corp convinced the online retailer that such a move would double the company’s market value.
“Today’s announcement of Jamie as the new CEO of eBay is a huge positive for the company,” said Elliott partner and eBay board member, Jesse Cohn.
