After a decade in the driver seat of online auction giant eBay, beleaguered CEO Meg Whitman is thinking about retirement amid the company’s sluggish growth.
According to WSJ, people familiar with the situation said she has been delegating her tasks to subordinates for the last few months and will be announcing her final decision in a few weeks. John Donahue, the president of eBay’s Marketplaces or the auction unit, is the leading candidate to replace Whitman, if the rumors are true.
Retirement or resignation usually happens when you fail to impress the all-profit stockholders. Although she is credited for making eBay a global success, her recent leadership was questioned for the current slowdown and the controversial $1.4 billion write-down for not generating enough ROI on the popular VoIP company, Skype.
Maybe Whitman is right when she said no chief executive must stay in power for more than a decade. Perhaps it’s time to give other guys the reins in this global online business.
Originally posted on January 22, 2008 @ 11:59 am