- General
- September 11, 2020
- 3 minutes read
eBay Founder Steps Down From Board
Pierre Omidyar. Photo credit: Joi Ito on Flickr, under Creative Commons license E-commerce company eBay has announced that its famed…
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| Pierre Omidyar.
Photo credit: Joi Ito on Flickr, under Creative Commons license
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E-commerce company eBay has announced that its famed founder, Pierre Omidyar, will be stepping down from board responsibilities at the company, notably 25 years after its founding. Omidyar is set to step down from the company’s board and transition to the role of Director Emeritus, a kind of advisory role. Omidyar’s step-down also coincides with that of another board member by the name of Jesse Cohn, who is a senior investor at activist hedge fund Elliott Management. eBay has already replaced both their seats with two new independent directors by the names of Carol Hayles, a veteran of financial services company Citigroup, and Mohak Shroff, the current Senior Vice President of Engineering at Microsoft-owned LinkedIn.
Omidyar founded the predecessor to eBay, then named AuctionWeb, in 1995. He served as chairman at the company from 1998 to 2015. Sometime in 2013, Omidyar shifted focus from majorly eBay to philanthropic and journalism ventures. In 2013, he founded Firsk Look Media, a non-profit organization that’s behind popular investigative journalism site The Intercept. He also heads the Omidyar Network, an investment company that’s backed several well-known technology companies.
“For 25 years, I’ve watched with pride as the company I created enabled economic opportunity for people around the world. With sound strategy and leadership in place, I can transition to the role of Director Emeritus with confidence.” Omidyar said in a press statement. Following the board changes, eBay still maintains 13 board directors, 12 of whom are independent.
