Will eBay's Meg Whitman Take Leave of Absence in '08?

Okay, so I couldn't just stop posting for the rest of the year because I came across an interesting idea regarding eBay's (EBAY) Meg Whitman in 2008. The credit for the idea comes from the Yahoo message boards, which are usually full of loony comments. I'm not sure this is a real possibility but in theory it is feasible, so here goes.

• eBay managers often use "Leave of Absence" to recharge themselves or find new employment. It is actually ideal because they can always return to eBay.
• Meg has been exercising options regularly all year and certainly could afford to defer her compensation for an extended period of time.
• John Donahoe has been hitting the PR trail heavy over the last month and looks to be in line to take over while Meg is away, either as interim CEO or officially as the new boss. If he's successful, with the changes he's making, Meg can leave knowing that the company is in good hands. If he fails then she can come back (assuming Romney loses) and save the company.
• She is very involved in Mitt Romney's campaign and I would say if he wins, she will be offered a cabinet position (Commerce Secretary) and who would turn that down. By not leaving eBay officially she hedges her bets. If Romney does not get the nomination then she can come back to eBay. By taking a Leave of Absence she can work on his campaign indefinitely.

I'm sure you can come up with other reasons this idea makes sense, I've just listed a few. If I was a betting man I would say that Meg will announce here Leave of Absence in January and hit the campaign trail for her good buddy Mitt.

Just my 5 cents.

Disclosure: none

Comments

[bosch1974:]

How about Meg Whitman should leave because she has run a cash cow into the ground? One of the worst CEO's of all time! (Note: I sold my Ebay stock long ago for heavy gains before the Skype fiasco, but for some odd reason I still find myself pulling for the stock :) )

2007 Dec 24 01:16 PM

[Steven Burda:]

Why?

- Steven Burda
www.linkedin.com/in/bu...

2007 Dec 24 05:03 PM

[Dinah Balk:]

Meg's got my vote for worst CEO in history! Nearly everything on ebay seems to bare the mark of a juvenile presence including site design, an endless stream of script errors, advertising, and the infamous Playground. Perhaps the loss of 9.1M listings since Dec 15 will finally convince both Meg & Donahoe (the heir apparent) that Finding 2.0 (aka Playground) doesn't work because sellers are leaving. Buyers aren't far behind because no buyer should ever be subjected guinea pig tests every time they visit a site.

2007 Dec 25 05:23 AM

[DOC:]

Watch this video that shows how messed up eBay's new seller performance policy is.

www.suspendedfromebay....

2008 Jan 05 10:43 AM