Hmm. I don't subscribe to your perspective in full, although I can see what has triggered it.
To be fair... there is some justification for your scepticism about an unambiguous separation between the interests of PayPal and the interests of eBay. Certainly it may send mixed messages when so many former eBay directors are now PayPal directors.
PayPal board of directors:
- John J. Donahoe (formerly INFAMOUS as eBay's Chairman, now barely spoken of as PayPal's Chairman)
- Rodney C. Adkins (his background with IBM and in capital investments makes him the traditional sort of director for a financial services provider company like PayPal; no connection with eBay of which I'm aware)
- Wences Casares (history in mobile payments/digital wallet/bitcoin platforms; no connection with eBay of which I'm aware; his history makes him a good fit for being involved with PayPal in this digital day and age, I think)
- Jonathan Christodoro (formerly an eBay board member; however, his extensive history in investment management and merger/acquisitions with heavyweight companies whose primary focus was to make lots of money and gobble up smaller companies makes him an inevitable sort of person to be a director with PayPal)
- David W. Dorman (formerly an eBay board member; he's been a board member/investor of major corporations such as Motorola and AT&T, so he's obviously the sort of person who'll be involved in a non-executive way with PayPal)
- Belinda Johnson (history as General Counsel (most notably for Yahoo) and in risk management; she has a Juris Doctor (the first degree in Law) and has worked as Legal Counsel for Airbnb; someone like her is a given on the board of a company like PayPal)
- Gail J. McGovern (formerly an eBay board member but quite literally for only 5 months; her background is quite different - she's still the CEO of the American Red Cross and she's a trustee of John Hopkins Medicine; of all the board members, she's probably the only one I'd invite around for dinner)
- David M. Moffett (formerly board member of eBay; history as CEO and Chief Financial Officer for various finace-related companies; the red and black of a ledger book probably runs in his veins - not on my potential dinner guest list)
- Ann M. Sarnoff (on the board of Harvard Business School Women’s Assoc., history as President/Chief Programming Officer with BBC America, also on the board of Georgetown University)
- Daniel H. Schulman (history as president of Sprint, also as Group President of Amex, currently also board member of Symantec; very appropriate history for being invovled with PayPal)
- Frank D. Yeary (formerly an eBay board member for 7 months; history as MD of Citibank, was also Vice Chancellor of University of California, and his finance industry expertise makes him a good fit for PayPal).
However, given that PayPal and eBay were once jointly owned, it's really not a surprise that some of the eBay board members transitioned over to PayPal when these two entities separated. eBay's going to be offering Ayden as its integrated payment method, and it may well be that PayPal will no longer be offered as a payment method on eBay past 2023.
So... even though eBay and PayPal have a history (very recent, very close), I don't think it makes sense to cast these as being involved in some sort secret mystical inner circle conspiracy. There'd be no need. The only inner circle that it's obvious that typical board members are part of is the inner circle of American wealthy industry. To that extent, corporate board members across the US are to be regarded cynically as probably not being filled with the milk of human kindness. I indicated as much above; of all the people on the PayPal board, the only one I'd even consider possibly being a person I'd enjoy knowing is Ms McGovern.
eBay's current board is composed primarily of people with experience and history in equity growth and investment companies. The chairman Thomas J. Tierney has an MBA (Harvard); his experience has him cited as an expert in "customer service and marketing" which is no doubt why he's been hauled on board eBay to increase its growth. I have no doubt that many of the changes we've seen on eBay are as a direct result of his customer service strategy. Will it work? I don't know. I do know that buyers who are reluctant to risk buying online may be more inclined to purchase on eBay with his absolute focus on making things easy and hassle-free for them; equally, though, risky buyers are going to feel very much at home in the environment being created.
(By "risky buyers", I mean buyers who are fraudulent, buyers who don't mind wasting a business's time by making purchases that they're at least half-inclined to "try" only, buyers who want businesses in fact to pay their postage for the privilege of buy-and-try-and-return, buyers who don't actually respect sellers' rights and who believe so deeply in the "customer is always right" mantra that it applies even when the buyer is behaving appallingly.)
I'm a buyer on eBay, and I am uncomfortable with the balance of power given to buyers on eBay. I wouldn't be a seller on eBay if you paid me five goats every quarter.
I'll stop here, as I'm going to be lambasted for posting a scroller. (I'm so sorry! My post guillotine was out being cleaned.)
