eBay & PayPal to separate on 17th July

eBay is to finally spin off PayPal in just three week’s time on the 17th of July and the two will become separate companies once again.

Share holders of eBay will get one PayPal Holdings, Inc share for each eBay share that they hold and PayPal will immediately start trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker PYPL, although that’s still subject to various approvals including from the European Central Bank (ECB).

The ECB only recently informed eBay that the proposed separation is subject to a new review process implemented by the EU. eBay have submitted their application to the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier of Luxembourg, which has made its assessment and forwarded its review of the application to the ECB.

From around the 6th of July up to the split and until you receive your new share certificates there will be two ways to buy and sell eBay shares – Shares that are entitled to shares of PayPal stock and (mainly for the futures market) shares that are traded without an entitlement to PayPal shares. Regular PayPal shares will begin trading around the 20th of July.

Following the split, eBay’s founder Pierre Omidyar will step down as Chairman of the Board for the first time since eBay was incorporated in 1996, although he will continue to serve on both eBay and PayPal’s board of directors. The new eBay Board will be chaired by current eBay Inc. director Thomas Tierney.

The split marks John Donahoe’s last day at PayPal when Devin Wenig will become President and CEO of eBay. John Donahoe will no longer serve on eBay’s Board of Directors, but will become Chairman of PayPal’s Board following the separation.

John Donahoe leaves eBay “Not the worlds most vibrant marketplace”

eBay’s tag line has for many years been “The World’s Online Marketplace”, but in his swansong announcment John Donahoe said “Under Devin Wenig’s leadership, eBay is focused on engaging its customers on one of the world’s most vibrant marketplaces”.

“One of the world’s most vibrant marketplaces”???? That’s a big acknowledgement of Alibaba, Amazon and Rakuten and the challenge Devin Wenig has to return eBay to being “The World’s Online Marketplace”. It shows how eBay desperately needs invigorating and has slipped in recent years.

Whilst it’s right to acknowledge the competition eBay has these days, if I’d been John Donahoe I think I may have chosen different words in my goodbye to eBay.