EBay Inc. appointed two independent directors in advance of its planned spinoff of online-payment platform PayPal this year.
Tony Bates, the president of wearable-camera maker GoPro Inc., and Gail McGovern, president and chief executive officer of the American Red Cross, were appointed to the online marketplaces board, the San Jose, California-based company said in a statement March 23.
William C. Ford and Richard T. Schlosberg, who have served for 10 years and 11 years, respectively, arent running for re-election, the company said. Jonathan Christodoro was elected to the board as part of a previously announced pact with activist investor Carl Icahn, who has been an advocate of the PayPal split.
"The appointments of Tony and Gail to the board represent our commitment to adding highly qualified independent directors in preparation for creating two world-class boards," CEO John Donahoe said in the statement. EBays 15-member board will have 13 independent directors following the companys annual meeting on May 1, the company said.
The split, which eBay announced six months ago, will leave PayPal as a stand-alone business in an increasingly competitive mobile-payment environment. Companies including Apple Inc. and Google Inc. also have such platforms. Facebook Inc. last week said it would add a payment option through its Messenger app. The spinoff remains on track to be completed in the second half, eBay said.
