The war between Carl Icahn and eBay (EBAY) is intensifying again. CNBC reports that the activist investor renewed his attack on eBay’s board of directors Wednesday, highlighting what he claims are not only “multiple lapses” in corporate governance on the part of the board, but also conflicts of interest.
In a new open letter to shareholders, Mr. Icahn is quite forward by specifically aiming at directors Scott Cook and Marc Andreessen’s links to eBay competitors. Icahn, who is vowing to “stand up” to the company, blasted what he called “corporate governance failures.” He strongly questioned Cook’s stake in Intuit (INTU), a competing business with PayPal in which Cooke has a stake worth $1 billion.
“Stockholders: Please ask yourself: If you ran your own company, would you ever allow your competitors to sit at the table as you planned and executed your business strategy? We believe the obvious answer is NO!”
“We believe corporate governance at eBay is dysfunctional. Let’s end this charade,” Icahn said.
The billionaire investor, who owns 2.15% of eBay shares, is pressing for two board seats and for eBay to spin off its PayPal unit in an inıtıal public offering.
According to Forbes, PayPal co-founder and Tesla (TSLA)’s CEO Elon Musk, also supports the plan to separate the two companies.
Shares of eBay are up in early Wednesday trading, gaining 1.66% to $57.06.
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