RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:ICAHN, etc Have spent some time in the boardrooms of large cap energy companies that are confused by their stock underperformance and looking for a new or modified corporate strategy to drive shares higher --- key for an advisor is to communicate on behalf of investor community and ability to work hand in hand with CEO (or someone designated by CEO to lead process) to implement a real strategy.
Seems like Icahn understands the power of separation and it may be as simple as focusing his energies elsewhere, in 2014 --- the value creation potential from these levels is very powerful -
" EBay today announced it's going to separate itself from its PayPal unit, a move that will make the online payments giant its own publicly traded company next year.
One person who has to be very happy is Carl Icahn, the activist investor who has been pushing for the split for a while. Business Insider estimates that Icahn's 30 million shares of eBay have already upped his worth by $180 million.
The move by eBay represents a huge shift by the online auctions leader. For much of this year, eBay had resisted the aggressive push by Icahn to split off PayPal. In March, eBay CEO John Donahoe said a separation was "not a good idea." But in a statement today, eBay said that the creation of two companies would allow both to take better advantage of growth opportunities.
"As independent companies, eBay and PayPal will enjoy added flexibility to pursue new market and partnership opportunities," Donahoe said in a statement today. "And we are confident following a thorough assessment of the relationships between eBay and PayPal that operating agreements can maintain synergies going forward."
Given Donahoe's earlier opposition, it's not surprising that he won't be leading eBay going forward. Instead, he'll be working with CFO Bob Swan on the transition from one company to two. Devin Wenig, president of EBay Marketplaces, will be CEO of the new EBay while American Express executive Dan Schulman will be president of PayPal, effective immediately. Schulman also will be CEO-designee of the standalone PayPal.
Icahn, understandably, was pleased with the news. "As I have said in the past and have continued to maintain, it is almost a "no brainer" that these companies should be separated to increase the value of these great assets and thus to meaningfully enhance value for all shareholders," Icahn said in a statement."