PayPal and eBay, joined forever in 2002, are falling apart:
eBay and PayPal are going their separate ways, with the payments company moving out from under the eBay umbrella to form its own, publicly-traded company. The move follows a strategic review conducted by eBay, Inc. and its Board of Directors, and is intended to help both businesses grow faster in their respective markets.
The spin-out of PayPal is expected to be complete by the second half of 2015, provided all regulators sign-off on the agreement. As TechCrunch reported, both companies will get new CEOs as part of the deal, with eBay Marketplaces President Devin Wenig taking over at eBay, and PayPal President Dan Schulman presiding at PayPal.
While I’ve had no particular problems with either eBay or PayPal since the merger, I’ve often wondered if eBay sellers were chafing under the “suggestion” that they accept payments only through PayPal. And PayPal has been looking for partners far removed from the auction biz; about twice a month they send me email to tell me about a new one — as distinguished from the twenty times a month I get phishing email from parties pretending to be PayPal.
Note that word “spin-out,” in place of the more-usual “spin-off.” Is there a difference? Maybe it lies in the fact that PayPal is on its way to being a bigger business than eBay.