The corporate governance and nominating committee of the board of directors of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) rejected that two nominees of activist investor and shareholder Carl Icahn citing that both were not qualified.
The company also encouraged its shareholders to vote against the candidates during its upcoming annual shareholders meeting. Icahn nominated Jonathan Cristodoro, currently serving as director of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) and Talisman Energy Inc (USA) (NYSE:TLM) and Daniel Ninivaggi, director of Icahn Enterprises LP (NYSE:IEP) and co-CEO of Federal Mogul Corp (NYSE:FDML).
Icahn also proposed the spin-off of PayPal, and blasted the e-commerce company and suggested that it has a “complete disregard for accountability.” eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) denied Icahn’s allegations and emphasized that Icahn was “disseminating claims that are dead wrong.” Most recently, Icahn accuses eBay CEO John Donahoe of “inexcusable incompetence.”
According to Richard R. Schlorberg, III, independent director and chairman of the corporate governance and nominating committee of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), Cristodoro and Ninivaggi did not meet the criteria that has been consistently applied by the committee after conducting a careful review.
Schlorberg said neither of the nominees has relevant experience or experience required by eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). He added that both do not comply with the board’s governance guidelines in over-boarding as Cristodoro and Ninivaggi serve in the board of four public companies.
The committee also recommended the re-lection of its four current directors to the board of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) including Fred D. Anderson, co-founder and managing director of Elevation Partners, Edward W. Barnhold, former president and CEO of Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A), Scott D. Cook, former president and chairman of the board of Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU), and its president and CEO John J. Donahoe.
Pierre M. Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) encouraged his fellow shareholders to re-elect the four directors of the Company. He said, “They demonstrate the caliber of leadership, business experience, insight and expertise that our company needs and that I believe our stockholders expect on our Board. I am personally delighted that they remain committed to the growth and success of the Company, and I encourage my fellow stockholders to give them their full support.”
The shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) was affected by its disagreement with Icahn. The stock price of the company dropped 1.42% to $58.22 a share on Monday. Over the past 52-week range, the stock price of e-commerce company climbed from $48.06 to $59.70 per share. Smartstops.net, a stock market equity risk management firm shows that the equity of the company is currently at a normal risk level.
It is wise for investors to closely monitor their investment in the company since it is under attack by one of the most prominent activist investor. Smartstops.net regularly sends alerts to its members when a stock entered an elevated risk