Bye Bye Meg...

We all know Meg has had some critical press in these recent years but she has weathered the onslaught with grace and style.  What do you suppose will be the result of Mr. John Donahue's ascension to the throne? I am enthusiastic about his background as head of the Auction business in eBay's vast empire... Things might be a bit more unsettled if it were looking like the head of Skype were set to take the reins... I think John Donahue will bring a more focused direction to the core business of eBay. (Selling Products and promoting Auctions)

For now let just wish Meg well.  I am sure she will be just as busy as before, what with all of seats on all of those boards of directors to occupy...

The following content are excepts from other sources as Noted:

EBay CEO Meg Whitman to Retire

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service Tue Jan 22, 9:30 AM ET

EBay CEO Meg Whitman is planning to step down from the company she has led for the past 10 years, The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday.

Whitman has been delegating more tasks to deputies over the last few months and is expected to decide on her retirement in the coming weeks, the newspaper said quoting "people familiar with the matter." John Donahue, who leads the company's auction business, is the leading candidate to succeed her, according to the newspaper.

EBay, which also operates the PayPal payment system and Skype Internet telephony service, is due to report earnings for the fourth quarter Wednesday. The quarter includes the traditionally-strong year-end holiday period and estimates see eBay reporting earnings per share of US$0.38.

The company reported a net profit of US$1.1 billion in 2006 on the back of US$6 billion in revenue. For 2007 eBay expects revenue to jump to US$7.6 billion.

EBay CEO set to retire, report says
WHITMAN WORKING ON HER SUCCESSION PLAN
By the Mercury News
Article Launched: 01/21/2008 11:39:21 PM PST

Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay, is preparing to retire, according to an article the Wall Street Journal posted on its Web site late Monday.

In the past few months, Whitman, 51, who has led eBay since March 1998, has been delegating more daily responsibilities to her subordinates and is completing a succession plan, the Journal reported, attributing the information to "people familiar with the matter."

A decision about her departure could come within weeks, though the situation "remains fluid," the Journal reported.

John Donahoe, 47, whom Whitman recruited in 2005 to become the president of eBay's auction business unit, has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed her, the Journal reported.

EBay is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter earnings today.

As recently as 2004, she has denied rumors that she planned to step down. That year, she told a Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium in Phoenix that she was having fun helping the company grow in the United States and internationally and had no plans to leave.

"I think it is one of the best jobs in America," she told investors gathered for the conference.

But, she said, her tenure might not last through 2008 because of her belief that one shouldn't stay in such jobs 10 years.

Whitman, who habitually appears at or near the top of lists of the most powerful women in the United States, has been the very public face of eBay since before the company went public. She also is one of the highest-paid executives in the valley, earning $11.1 million in 2006.
Recently, she has emerged as a supporter of Republican Mitt Romney's bid for the White House, hosting a fundraiser for the former Massachusetts governor in her Atherton home last year.

Attempts to reach eBay Monday night for confirmation of the retirement report were unsuccessful.