EBay, which also reported weak holiday sales and forecast sluggish revenue growth, said it’s exploring options for its enterprise unit, including a sale or sharemarket float.
The company is also adding three new board members, including a representative for activist shareholder Carl Icahn, who had pushed the company to split.
First-quarter revenue will be US$4.35 billion to $4.45 billion, short of analysts’ projection of $4.71 billion. Sales in the fourth quarter rose 9 percent to $4.92 billion, the slowest holiday-quarter gain since 2010.
CEO John Donahoe said splitting off EBay’s PayPal payments division will allow the unit to make other alliances and compete against a new breed of online-payment providers.
EBay’s stock declined less than one percent to $53.37 at the close in New York, leaving it down 4.9 percent this year.
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