Stock Share: eBay Top Shareholders

EBay Inc is one of the successful and largest e-commerce platforms worldwide. eBay allows sellers to operate an online store and sell products directly to their buyers.

The company started in 1995 and developed since and acquired various online markets such as StubHub and Classifieds. The company made a market cap of $27.28 billion on October 30, 2018, as their market closed. Their growth made several shareholders, including their founder who is now very wealthy. During July 2018, the company filed a notification with the state of California to permanently lay off an estimate of 300 employees in San Jose, San Francisco, and Brisbane.

On October 30 of the same year, eBay announced their Q3 2018 earnings. They’ve reported a $2.6 billion revenue for this quarter. This was higher compared to $2.4 billion in the same period last year. In today’s feature post, we’ll tell you the top eBay individual shareholders.

Pierre Omidyar

The founder of eBay which started in 1995. He holds the largest share with 58.4 million shares as per his filing with the SEC on November 16, 2017. Omidyar originally called this successful e-commerce as the AuctionWeb. He began writing code from his home during Labor Day weekend. His idea was to bring buyers and sellers together within an open online marketplace.

In June 1996 Omidyar hired his first employee, helping him to manage the company’s speedy growth. In September 1997, he renamed the company eBay (which is its name until now). The company reached an annual revenue of $9.6 billion in 2017.

During the year 2004, Omidyar founded a philanthropic venture called the “Omidyar Network.” Graduating with a bachelor of science in computer science at Tufts University, he gave $100 million as part of the organization’s efforts. Omidyar also works as an advisor to Neoteny Co. Ltd. and as a commissioner of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Currently, he continues to be a member of the boards of directors of eBay.

John Donahoe

The second-largest eBay shareholder. Donahoe holds 823,896 shares as per his most recent SEC filing on July 2015. Donahoe became the chief executive officer (CEO) and president of eBay from March 31, 2008, until July 17, 2015.

He started working in eBay in 2005 as the president of Marketplaces. In his role, he managed all the e-commerce platforms of the company. Upon acquisition of PayPal, Donahoe was the PayPal’s interim president from January until April 2012. Before joining eBay, he also worked as the CEO and worldwide managing director of Bain & Company.

Donahoe worked on various boards of companies and non-profit organizations. Currently, he is the President and CEO of ServiceNow and chairman of PayPal. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in economics at Dartmouth College and had an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Devin Wenig

The current President and CEO of eBay. Wenig holds 728,738 shares of the company as per recent SEC filing on October 15, 2018. He became CEO in July 2015 (third CEO in eBay’s history) upon overseeing eBay’s Marketplaces business as the President for close to four years.

Wenig being CEO helped eBay grow its annual Gross Merchandise Volume. From $60.3 billion in 2011 to $88.4 billion in 2017. During that time frame (2011 to 2017), eBay grew their user base by 71 million active customers up to 170 million. Wenig graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Union College and received his Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law.

Michael Jacobson

The fourth-largest eBay shareholder. Jacobson holds 518,559 shares as of July 2017. He was the general counsel and secretary of eBay from August 1998 to July 2015. He also became the company’s senior vice president of legal affairs until July 2015. Jacobson took care of the company’s content, contracts, and law enforcement policies. That includes the compliance of the company to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during his tenure.

Jacobson also worked in partnership with the law firm Cooley Godward LLP. In which he specialized in securities law and mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

Jacobson holds a bachelor of arts in economics and graduated from Harvard College. He received his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School.

eBay is one of the most popular e-commerce companies around the globe. Like all those successful e-commerce businesses, eBay continues to aim higher goal. May this give you a motivation to never stop trying your very best towards your goal.