Ebay split PayPal focus on core business

The company plans to lay off 2400 people this quarter, accounting for 7% of its staff, and is exploring the sale of its corporate sector or listing it publicly, according to foreign media reports, as it prepares to spin off PayPal, its payment department, this year.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, released in Wednesday, ebay said it would split its market, payments and corporate sectors after the work was completed.

ebay also announced that it had reached a suspension agreement (standstill agreement) with the largest active shareholder, Icahn, and agreed to appoint Icahn, a hedge fund Icahn capital, to Jonathan Christodona (Jonathan Christodoro) is a member of the company's board of directors. The company also appointed two Wall Street bankers as members of its board, increasing the number of board members to 15.

PayPal agreed to take a series of measures previously recommended by Icahn, activist investor Icahn said these measures will strengthen PayPal's corporate governance.

"Looking ahead to 2015, we will streamline our organizational structure to focus on our core business, ensuring we are better able to compete and win," said ebay. ”

The company's restructuring and spin-off costs are expected to be between $210 million trillion and $240 million trillion in the first quarter of this year, and between $350 million and $400 million a year.

Ebay plans to divest its market segment from PayPal, its fast-growing payment department, in the second half of the year. PayPal will become an independent public company, some analysts say, with a market capitalisation of $40 billion trillion.

The company is also considering selling its corporate sector or letting it go public, mainly to help retailers around the world develop online businesses. The company says its corporate sector is not fit to be put together with PayPal or its marketing department.

"It is now very clear that its synergy with other businesses is limited and that the break-up will allow both sides to focus on their core markets and we will build two independent world-class companies," said ebay. ”

In the fourth quarter of last year, the company earned 90 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected earnings per share of the fourth quarter to be 89 cents. Over the same period last year, its earnings per share was 81 cents.

In the Nasdaq's WEDNESDAY regular deal, ebay's share price closed at $53.38, down 0.56% from the previous session. ebay's shares rose 2.92% per cent to $54.94 in the ensuing intraday trading, before press release.