On Thursday, eBay announced that following the split, "PayPal can work with all commerce/marketplace companies and eBay can offer its customers alternative payment providers." Also as part of the operating agreement, which is in effect for the next five years with a one year transition period, PayPal will not be allowed to create an online commerce marketplace, while eBay will not be allowed to develop its own payments system on its core platform.
The announcement clarifies the exact level of independence between the two companies which have been together since 2002 following eBay's $1.5 billion acquisition of the payments company. It also clarifies comments made by PayPal CEO elect Dan Schulman, who said at a conference last month that PayPal will be a true "neutral third party" to its commerce and retailing clients. Schulman did say at the time, however, that eBay would remain PayPal's largest customer.
EBay also clarified its board leadership following the split. As previously reported by Recode, current eBay CEO and board member John Donahoe will vacate his eBay board seat and will serve as chair of the PayPal board. EBay's current chairman, founder Pierre Omidyar, will serve on eBay and PayPal's boards both in non-chair capacities. Current eBay director Tom Tierney will take over as eBay chairman. And finally to complete the merry-go-round, current eBay CFO Bob Swan will become a director on the eBay board.
The companies are on track to separate by the second half of 2015, said eBay.
