Ina Steiner EcommerceBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on ecommerce.
by Ina Steiner, Editor of EcommerceBytes.com
Mon Apr 13 2020 09:53:57

eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?

By: Ina Steiner

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eBay has a new CEO, former eBay executive Jamie Iannone, who is currently Chief Operating Officer of Walmart eCommerce.

After Devin Wenig abruptly left eBay in September, the board of directors had named Chief Financial Officer Scott Schenkel to fill the role of chief executive on an interim basis.

eBay's board was pressured to name an external candidate by activist investor Starboard Value LP, which informed eBay last month that it felt the board was moving too slowly to fill the role of CEO.

As we wrote last month, Schenkel did not appear to have the confidence of Starboard. It urged eBay to focus on external candidates who would "bring a fresh perspective and energy to the Company after its prolonged underperformance."

In today's announcement, Chairman of the eBay board Thomas Tierney wrote:

"The Board believes Jamie is the ideal CEO to lead eBay's next chapter of growth and success. We have all been impressed by his strong track record of innovation, execution, operational excellence, and developing teams that drive results. Jamie has consistently delivered high growth during rapid periods of industry disruption, consumer change and technological advancement. He is a world-class leader, and we are excited to welcome him back to eBay."

Iannone had worked at eBay from 2001 through 2009, when he left to run digital products at bookseller chain Barnes & Noble.

As his bio on the Walmart site states, he had run various divisions during his tenure at eBay including global search, buyer experience and tailored shopping experience and had previously worked at Epinions.com, Microsoft, and Booz Allen Hamilton.

Activist investor Starboard had also called last month for eBay to name four executives to its board of directors, including two former eBay executives, Stephanie Tilenius and Shannon (Stubo) Brayton.

Both Iannone and Tilenius were at eBay when John Donahoe took over as CEO from Meg Whitman and led the company into new directions that antagonized many longtime sellers on the marketplace. This June 2008 AuctionBytes blog post may be interesting to those looking for insight into the backgrounds of those executives and the the concept of the "Amazonification" of eBay.

Iannone's start date as eBay CEO is April 27, 2020. Scott Schenkel will continue as interim CEO until that date and "will thereafter work with Mr. Iannone to ensure a smooth transition of leadership," eBay stated. Andy Cring will continue to serve as interim CFO. Tierney noted eBay's deep appreciation to Schenkel in the announcement.

We're interested to hear what sellers think of eBay's choice of new CEO. Will he be focused on the "Amazonification" of eBay? How does the news bode for sellers of unique inventory?

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Perminate Link for eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?   eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?

by: Truk This user has validated their user name.

Thu Apr 16 08:11:19 2020

Has you shopped Walmart.com? It's a train wreck of internet dysfunction

Perminate Link for eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?   eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?

by: unhappyebayguy This user has validated their user name.

Thu Apr 16 09:30:30 2020

Meg Whitman was the best! John Donahoe was the worst. Good luck to Jamie Iannone!

Perminate Link for eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?   eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?

by: JohnGermaine This user has validated their user name.

Thu Apr 16 11:33:52 2020

Hope not - I have no use for Amazon. I don't buy there and would NEVER sell there.

Perminate Link for eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?   eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?

by: lindysthings This user has validated their user name.

Thu Apr 16 12:49:51 2020

How do we know why Jamie left Ebay when Donohoe was taking over?  JD did announce that Ebay would be leaving a very successful past to head in a different direction (something to that effect).  

Maybe the "Amazonification" direction did not set well with Jamie, and he left Ebay of his own accord, not agreeing with the new direction. And what he did after that, (at Barnes and Noble) isn't necessarily relevant. Maybe he wanted a change of  pace, direction or whatever.

The fact that Jamie is returning, knowing that 2 previous CEO's couldn't make it with the "Amazonification"  direction, that should tell him that the 3rd time is not the charm.
And hopefully being in the industry and with  Walmart 3rd party sales, he will have learned what works and what doesn't.

I say, we could have probably done worse, with another outside lawyer with zero experience. I guess I stand hopeful!

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by: semper fi This user has validated their user name.

Thu Apr 16 14:59:57 2020

While he was at Walmart returns for defective items was a miserable scam. Walmart would not back up buyers claims and neither would the sellers. Top this with the demand from ebay for managed payments we will see a mass exodus from their site including my two stores that are over 20 years old. Same old retread CEO's who take the $$$$$$$$$ ruin the site and run.  

Perminate Link for eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?   eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?

by: Fahrenheit451 This user has validated their user name.

Thu Apr 16 15:52:13 2020

After 20+ years being a member, I finally signed off for the last time at eBay and closed my account. Over those two decades I tried selling things and never got sales. The fee structure is too high to begin with, and I never signed on for auto renewals in the first place. Changing CEOs is going to be useless, because the execs don't have a clue how to promote and sell anything. They are just into earning fees to keep themselves alive. So this will be the last comment I make about eBay. It's dead, as far as I'm concerned.

Perminate Link for eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?   eBay Appoints New CEO, Will It Lead to Amazonification?

by: Toledo Maude This user has validated their user name.

Thu Apr 16 18:37:53 2020

A new CEO?  It appears to be ''same old, same old''.

What the old line long time eBay small sellers can expect from the new CEO is NO help!  No Changes!  

Just ''full speed ahead!  Damn the icebergs!''

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