eBay (EBAY 1.47%) has once again fallen under the gaze of Starboard Value. The activist hedge fund has put forward a minority slate of nominees for eBay's board of directors, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Starboard acquired about 1% of eBay's shares early last year and has taken the e-commerce company to task for its anemic growth rate and for not moving quickly enough to sell off its classified advertising business.
The board will be up for election at eBay's annual meeting in June, though it isn't clear exactly whom Starboard has nominated, or the number of people it has put forward.
Image source: eBay.
It was reported last month that eBay was in discussions with multiple parties interested in the classifieds business, which has been a hotly contested issue at the company. In September, CEO Devin Wenig stepped down, reportedly disagreeing with the board's decision to accede to demands by the hedge fund and sell the classifieds segment, which is estimated to be worth about $10 billion.
This isn't the first time eBay has tangled with activist investors, or even hedge fund Starboard Value. In early 2019, the e-commerce technology platform was double-teamed by Starboard and Elliott Management, who advocated for changes to the business to "create significant value" for shareholders. At the time, the pair recommended numerous steps, which included instituting a dividend, revitalizing its core marketplace business, and selling off both StubHub and eBay Classifieds.
eBay bowed to the pressure and has affected numerous changes. Shortly after the double-team, the company announced it would begin to pay a dividend of $0.14 per share, at the time yielding about 1.7%. In addition, eBay sold StubHub to Swiss ticket seller viagogo last year for about $4 billion.
