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What do people think of Meg Whitman's record at eBay? She ran for governor on her record as CEO there, but eBay has always seemed to me like a terribly-led comp

by seldo 15y ago

What do people think of Meg Whitman's record at eBay? She ran for governor on her record as CEO there, but eBay has always seemed to me like a terribly-led company, sitting on its laurels as first-mover and squandering opportunities to move into new markets while startups chip away at its core business.

vicparekh 15y ago
I completely agree. Meg wasted her time at eBay. eBay is a company and therefore we are not privy to a lot of the internal politics. Their acquisition of Skype made no sense. When she ran for governor, the method by which she handled the fact that she had hired an illegal immigrant proved to me that she was seriously unfit to be anything but a Senior Manager.
- gamache 15y ago
  > Their acquisition of Skype made no sense. For what it's worth: eBay paid $2.6B for Skype in 2005, sold 65% of it for $2B in 2009, and then made an additional $2.5B selling its remaining stake to Microsoft in 2010. So it turned out to net almost $2B over five years. I'm not an accountant, but I could live with those numbers. (disclosure: eBay owns the company that bought the company where I work)
  - arach 15y ago
    Skype retained its value and even became more valuable, but that doesn't mean it made strategic sense for a marketplace / e-commerce company.
    - headbiznatch 15y ago
      It made strategic sense if they were hoping to make a couple billion dollars on their investment.
      - saraid216 15y ago
        That's not strategy. That's a get-rich-quick scheme.
        headbiznatch 15y ago
        Getting rich quick is a valid strategical choice. It may not be your thing, but this kind of categorization is personal.
rsbrown 15y ago
"a terribly-led company, sitting on its laurels as first-mover and squandering opportunities to move into new markets" As a former employee of that behemoth, I can only say: you hit the nail on the head.
- jerhewet 15y ago
  Completely agree, looking at it from the viewpoint of a seller before Meg ran it into the ground. Yes, you HN Virginia's, she did run eBay into the ground. A simple Google search will turn up plenty of people on plenty of forums that can fill you in. The stock price tells the same story.
  - 0x12 15y ago
    Where do you go to auction second hand stuff?
    - zmj 15y ago
      Craigslist.
      - 0x12 15y ago
        They do auctions? Thank you, I never realized that. Hey downvoter, thank you for showing your ignorance. In case you had not read the craigslist faq let me help you out here: "No - craigslist is not an auction site." So me not realizing that wasn't all that strange, it seems they really aren't.
        kinofcain 15y ago
        Auctions are just one way of arriving at a price for a used good, haggling is another. The question isn't "Where can I auction this old stuff" it's "Where can I sell this old stuff".
        0x12 15y ago
hristov 15y ago
I agree. The ebay site looked like a throwback to the 90's until a couple of years ago. On top of that it was very slow. Not only startups were chipping away at their business but also Craigslist and Amazon. The Skype acquisition was simply botched, as someone else mentioned. It is incredible that someone would screw up the legal due diligence on a multi-billion dollar deal. Also she obviously used the Ebay IPO to get herself appointed on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs.
drzaiusapelord 15y ago
The site is such a 90s throwback. I love getting emails to pay my ebay bill with instructions like "visit the site, login here, click there, then click here, and finally click here." Err, is generating a URL straight to payment such a problem?
- whichdan 15y ago
  I wonder whether this is poor design, or due to the large amount of phishing attempts?
  - drzaiusapelord 15y ago
    Considering ebay sends me other marketing emails with links in them, I'm not sure if its anti-phishing. Ive already been trained to click on ebay links.
- weinerk 15y ago
  Probably they are trying to prevent phishing/scamming.
  - drzaiusapelord 15y ago
    OKay, lets assume it is. Why can't I be presented with my balance after logging in? Why do I need to navigate through three menus just to pay them. Maybe they've fixed it. I havent used ebay in a long time. It became scam central a few years ago and theres no "dont take bids from people with less than 10 feedback" option. Half my shit was bought by someone with zero history who never bothered to contact me.
mootothemax 15y ago
What do people think of Meg Whitman's record at eBay? From her Wikipedia page: During her ten years with the company she oversaw expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue. [1] Seems pretty impressive to me. It's also easy to forget how many companies tried and failed in this space, including the likes of Yahoo. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman
- preview 15y ago
  The growth is impressive, but did Whitman cause it to happen, or did she manage it as it was happening? My opinion is that she managed it as it was happening. That may make her a competent manager, but I think HP needs much more than just a competent manager. HP should be about technology leadership, especially if the commodity PC business is sold off.
  - ScottBurson 15y ago
    Yes. eBay is a textbook natural monopoly, because buyers want the best selection and sellers want as many buyers as possible to find their stuff. All she had to do at eBay was not screw it up -- which is something, but not the same thing at all as the task she now faces at HP.
  - qq66 15y ago
    You can ask that question about almost any leader, especially non-founder CEOs -- were they just sitting on top for the ride or did they do it themselves. One thing that Meg Whitman definitely executed was the acquisition of PayPal which is now responsible for probably $20+ billion of EBay's enterprise value.

by seldo 15y ago

vicparekh 15y ago

I completely agree. Meg wasted her time at eBay. eBay is a company and therefore we are not privy to a lot of the internal politics. Their acquisition of Skype made no sense. When she ran for governor, the method by which she handled the fact that she had hired an illegal immigrant proved to me that she was seriously unfit to be anything but a Senior Manager.

gamache 15y ago
> Their acquisition of Skype made no sense. For what it's worth: eBay paid $2.6B for Skype in 2005, sold 65% of it for $2B in 2009, and then made an additional $2.5B selling its remaining stake to Microsoft in 2010. So it turned out to net almost $2B over five years. I'm not an accountant, but I could live with those numbers. (disclosure: eBay owns the company that bought the company where I work)
- arach 15y ago
  Skype retained its value and even became more valuable, but that doesn't mean it made strategic sense for a marketplace / e-commerce company.
  - headbiznatch 15y ago
    It made strategic sense if they were hoping to make a couple billion dollars on their investment.
    - saraid216 15y ago
      That's not strategy. That's a get-rich-quick scheme.
      - headbiznatch 15y ago
        Getting rich quick is a valid strategical choice. It may not be your thing, but this kind of categorization is personal.

rsbrown 15y ago

"a terribly-led company, sitting on its laurels as first-mover and squandering opportunities to move into new markets" As a former employee of that behemoth, I can only say: you hit the nail on the head.

jerhewet 15y ago
Completely agree, looking at it from the viewpoint of a seller before Meg ran it into the ground. Yes, you HN Virginia's, she did run eBay into the ground. A simple Google search will turn up plenty of people on plenty of forums that can fill you in. The stock price tells the same story.
- 0x12 15y ago
  Where do you go to auction second hand stuff?
  - zmj 15y ago
    Craigslist.
    - 0x12 15y ago
      They do auctions? Thank you, I never realized that. Hey downvoter, thank you for showing your ignorance. In case you had not read the craigslist faq let me help you out here: "No - craigslist is not an auction site." So me not realizing that wasn't all that strange, it seems they really aren't.
      - kinofcain 15y ago
        Auctions are just one way of arriving at a price for a used good, haggling is another. The question isn't "Where can I auction this old stuff" it's "Where can I sell this old stuff".
        0x12 15y ago

hristov 15y ago

I agree. The ebay site looked like a throwback to the 90's until a couple of years ago. On top of that it was very slow. Not only startups were chipping away at their business but also Craigslist and Amazon. The Skype acquisition was simply botched, as someone else mentioned. It is incredible that someone would screw up the legal due diligence on a multi-billion dollar deal. Also she obviously used the Ebay IPO to get herself appointed on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs.

drzaiusapelord 15y ago

The site is such a 90s throwback. I love getting emails to pay my ebay bill with instructions like "visit the site, login here, click there, then click here, and finally click here." Err, is generating a URL straight to payment such a problem?

whichdan 15y ago
I wonder whether this is poor design, or due to the large amount of phishing attempts?
- drzaiusapelord 15y ago
  Considering ebay sends me other marketing emails with links in them, I'm not sure if its anti-phishing. Ive already been trained to click on ebay links.
weinerk 15y ago
Probably they are trying to prevent phishing/scamming.
- drzaiusapelord 15y ago
  OKay, lets assume it is. Why can't I be presented with my balance after logging in? Why do I need to navigate through three menus just to pay them. Maybe they've fixed it. I havent used ebay in a long time. It became scam central a few years ago and theres no "dont take bids from people with less than 10 feedback" option. Half my shit was bought by someone with zero history who never bothered to contact me.

mootothemax 15y ago

What do people think of Meg Whitman's record at eBay? From her Wikipedia page: During her ten years with the company she oversaw expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue. [1] Seems pretty impressive to me. It's also easy to forget how many companies tried and failed in this space, including the likes of Yahoo. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman

preview 15y ago
The growth is impressive, but did Whitman cause it to happen, or did she manage it as it was happening? My opinion is that she managed it as it was happening. That may make her a competent manager, but I think HP needs much more than just a competent manager. HP should be about technology leadership, especially if the commodity PC business is sold off.
- ScottBurson 15y ago
  Yes. eBay is a textbook natural monopoly, because buyers want the best selection and sellers want as many buyers as possible to find their stuff. All she had to do at eBay was not screw it up -- which is something, but not the same thing at all as the task she now faces at HP.
- qq66 15y ago
  You can ask that question about almost any leader, especially non-founder CEOs -- were they just sitting on top for the ride or did they do it themselves. One thing that Meg Whitman definitely executed was the acquisition of PayPal which is now responsible for probably $20+ billion of EBay's enterprise value.