UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No.  )

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eBay Inc.

(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)

 

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eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, California 95125

 

 

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

To Be Held On April 29, 2009

 

 

To the Stockholders of eBay Inc.:

 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of eBay Inc., a Delaware corporation, will be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, at 8:00 a.m. Pacific time at Town Square, 2161 North First Street, San Jose, California 95131 for the following purposes:

 

1. To vote on the election of Marc L. Andreessen, William C. Ford, Jr., Dawn G. Lepore, Pierre M. Omidyar and Richard T. Schlosberg, III as directors, to hold office until our 2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

 

2. To approve amendments to certain of our existing equity incentive plans to allow for a one-time option exchange program for employees other than our named executive officers and directors.

 

3. To approve the amendment and restatement of our 2008 Equity Incentive Award Plan to increase the aggregate number of shares authorized for issuance under the plan by 50 million shares and to add market share and volume metrics as performance criteria under the plan.

 

4. To ratify the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent auditors for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2009.

 

5. To transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment or postponement of the meeting.

 

These business items are described more fully in the Proxy Statement accompanying this Notice.

 

The Board of Directors has fixed the close of business on March 4, 2009 as the record date for identifying those stockholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this Annual Meeting and at any adjournment or postponement of this meeting.

 

By Order of the Board of Directors

 

Michael R. Jacobson

Secretary

 

San Jose, California

March [  ], 2009

 

All stockholders are cordially invited to attend the Annual Meeting in person. Whether or not you expect to attend the Annual Meeting, you are urged to submit your proxy or voting instructions as soon as possible so that your shares can be voted at the Annual Meeting in accordance with your instructions. Telephone and Internet voting are available. For specific instructions on voting, please refer to the instructions on the proxy card or voting instruction form.

 

eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, California 95125

 

 

 

 

PROXY STATEMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2009 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

 

PROXY STATEMENT

 

 

Our business is managed by our employees under the direction and oversight of the Board of Directors. Except for Mr. Donahoe, none of our Board members is an employee of eBay. We keep Board members informed of our business through discussions with management, materials we provide to them, visits to our offices, and their participation in Board and Board committee meetings.

 

The Board has adopted corporate governance guidelines that, along with the charters of the principal Board committees and our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which we refer to as our Code of Conduct, provide the framework for the governance of the company. A complete copy of our governance guidelines, the charters of our principal Board committees, and our Code of Conduct may be found on our investor relations website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance. Information contained on our website is not part of this proxy statement. The Board regularly reviews corporate governance developments and modifies these policies as warranted. Any changes in these governance documents will be reflected in the same location on our website.

 

We believe that open, effective, and accountable corporate governance practices are key to our relationship with our stockholders. To help our stockholders understand our commitment to this relationship and our governance practices, the Board has adopted a set of governance guidelines to set a framework within which the Board will conduct its business. The governance guidelines can be found on our website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance and are summarized below along with certain other of our governance practices.

 

Committee Responsibilities.  Board committees help the Board run effectively and efficiently, but do not replace the oversight of the Board as a whole. There are currently three principal Board committees: the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. Each committee meets regularly and has a written charter that has been approved by the Board. In addition, at each regularly scheduled Board meeting, a member of each committee reports on any significant matters addressed by the committee since the last Board meeting. Each committee performs an annual self-assessment to evaluate its effectiveness in fulfilling its obligations.

 

Independence.  The rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market require listed companies to have a board of directors with at least a majority of independent directors. These rules have both objective tests and a subjective test for determining who is an “independent director.” The objective tests state, for example, that a director is not considered independent if he or she is an employee of the company, or is a partner in, or a controlling shareholder or executive officer of, an entity to which the company made, or from which the company received, payments in the current or any of the past three fiscal years that exceed 5% of the recipient’s consolidated gross revenue for that year. The subjective test requires our Board to affirmatively determine that the director does not have a relationship that would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out his or her responsibilities. On an annual basis, each member of our Board is required to complete an independence questionnaire designed to provide information to assist the Board in determining whether the director is independent under the listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market and our corporate governance guidelines. Our Board has adopted guidelines setting forth certain categories of transactions, relationships, and arrangements that it has deemed immaterial for purposes of making its determination regarding a director’s independence, and does not consider any such transactions, relationships, and arrangements in making its subjective determination.

 

Our Board has determined that each of the following directors is independent under the listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market: Mr. Anderson, Mr. Andreessen, Mr. Barnholt, Mr. Bourguignon, Mr. Cook, Mr. Ford, Ms. Lepore, Mr. Moffett, Mr. Schlosberg, and Mr. Tierney. Also, our Board determined that Mr. Kagle, who served as a director until his term expired upon the conclusion of our 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on June 19, 2008, was independent under the listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market. In making this assessment, the Board considered the transactions, relationships, and arrangements described under the heading “Certain Transactions with Directors and Officers” below. In addition, certain of our directors serve as members of the board of directors for the same company or have investments in venture funds where another director serves as a general partner. The Board was aware of these relationships when it made its determination.

The Board limits membership on the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee to independent directors. Our governance guidelines require any director who has previously been determined to be independent to inform the Chairman of the Board and our Corporate Secretary of any change in circumstance that may cause his or her status as an independent director to change.

 

Lead Independent Director.  Our Board has a designated lead independent director who chairs and may call formal closed sessions of the independent directors, leads Board meetings in the absence of the Chairman, and leads the annual Board self-assessment. In addition, the lead independent director, together with the chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, conducts interviews to confirm the continued qualification and willingness to serve of each director whose term is expiring at an annual meeting prior to the time at which directors are nominated for re-election. Mr. Barnholt is currently the lead independent director, having been appointed to a two-year term in June 2008. He will serve as lead independent director until the Board meeting following our 2010 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

 

Stockholder Communication.  Stockholders may communicate with the Board or individual directors care of the Corporate Secretary, eBay Inc., 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, California 95125. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee has delegated responsibility for initial review of stockholder communications to our Corporate Secretary. In accordance with the committee’s instructions, our Corporate Secretary will summarize all correspondence and make it available to each member of the Board. In addition, the Corporate Secretary will forward copies of all stockholder correspondence to each member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, except for communications that are (1) advertisements or promotional communications, (2) solely related to complaints by users with respect to ordinary course of business customer service and satisfaction issues, or (3) clearly unrelated to our business, industry, management, or Board or committee matters.

 

Attendance at Annual Meetings.  Absent exigent circumstances, all directors are expected to attend eBay’s annual meeting of stockholders. All of our directors serving on our Board at the time of our last annual meeting of stockholders, which was held in June 2008, attended such meeting except for Mr. Kagle, whose term as a director expired upon the conclusion of that meeting.

 

Formal Closed Sessions.  At the conclusion of each regularly scheduled Board meeting, the outside directors have the opportunity to meet without our management or the other directors. The lead independent director leads the discussions.

 

Board Compensation.  Board compensation is determined by the Compensation Committee. Since 2003, Board compensation has consisted of a mixture of equity compensation and cash compensation. Board compensation is reviewed annually by the Compensation Committee. A more detailed description of current Board compensation can be found under the heading “Compensation of Directors” below.

 

Stock Ownership Guidelines.  In September 2004, our Board adopted stock ownership guidelines to better align the interests of our directors and executive officers with the interests of our stockholders and further promote our commitment to sound corporate governance. Under these guidelines, our executive officers are required to achieve ownership of eBay common stock valued at three times their annual base salary (five times in the case of our Chief Executive Officer, or CEO). The guidelines provide that the required ownership level for each executive officer is re-calculated whenever an executive officer changes pay grade, and as of January 1 of every third year. Until an executive officer achieves the required level of ownership, he or she is required to retain 25% of the after-tax net shares received as the result of the exercise of eBay stock options or the vesting of restricted stock or restricted stock units. Directors are required to achieve ownership of eBay common stock valued at three times the amount of the annual retainer paid to directors within three years of joining the Board, or in the case of directors serving at the time the guidelines were adopted, within three years of the date of adoption of the guidelines. A more detailed summary of our stock ownership guidelines can be found on our website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance. The ownership levels of our executive officers and directors as of March 3, 2009 are set forth in the section entitled “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” below.

 

Outside Advisors.  The Board and each of its principal committees may retain outside advisors and consultants of their choosing at the company’s expense. The Board need not obtain management’s consent to

retain outside advisors. In addition, the principal committees need not obtain either the Board’s or management’s consent to retain outside advisors.

 

Conflicts of Interest.  eBay expects its directors, executives, and employees to conduct themselves with the highest degree of integrity, ethics, and honesty. eBay’s credibility and reputation depend upon the good judgment, ethical standards, and personal integrity of each director, executive, and employee. In order to better protect eBay and its stockholders, eBay regularly reviews its Code of Conduct and related policies to ensure that it provides clear guidance to its directors, executives, and employees.

 

Transparency.  eBay believes it is important that stockholders understand the governance practices of eBay. In order to help ensure the transparency of our practices, we have posted information regarding our corporate governance procedures on our website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance.

 

Board Effectiveness and Director Performance Reviews.  It is important to eBay that the Board and its committees are performing effectively and in the best interest of the company and its stockholders. The Board performs an annual self-assessment, led by the lead independent director, to evaluate its effectiveness in fulfilling its obligations. As part of this annual self-assessment, directors are able to provide feedback on the performance of other directors. The lead independent director then follows up on this feedback and takes such further action with directors receiving comments and other directors as he or she deems appropriate.

 

Succession Planning.  The Board recognizes the importance of effective executive leadership to eBay’s success. eBay conducts an annual review process that includes succession plans for eBay’s senior leadership positions. These succession plans are reviewed and approved by our CEO, and details on these succession plans, including potential successors for members of eBay’s executive staff (including the CEO), are presented to the Board. In addition, the Board reviews and updates eBay’s CEO succession plan, which includes formal criteria for the CEO position used to evaluate potential successors and addresses the possibility of an emergency situation. In conducting this review, the Board considers, among other factors, organizational and operational needs, competitive challenges and leadership/management potential and development.

 

Auditor Independence.  eBay has taken a number of steps to ensure continued independence of its outside auditors. eBay’s independent auditors report directly to the Audit Committee, and eBay limits the use of its auditors for non-audit services. The fees for services provided by eBay’s auditors in 2008 and 2007 and eBay’s policy on pre-approval of non-audit services are described under “Proposal 4 — Ratification of Selection of Independent Auditors” below.

 

Corporate Hotline.  eBay has established a corporate hotline (operated by a third party) to allow any employee to confidentially and anonymously lodge a complaint about any accounting, internal control, auditing, or (where legally permissible) other matters of concern.

 

During 2008, our Board held five meetings, and each Board member attended at least 75% of the aggregate of all of our Board meetings and committee meetings for committees on which such director served. The Board has three principal committees: an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee, and a Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.

 

Our Board has a separately-designated standing Audit Committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which we refer to as the Exchange Act. Our Audit Committee consists of Mr. Anderson, Ms. Lepore, Mr. Moffett and Mr. Schlosberg, each of whom is independent in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Nasdaq Global Select Market and the SEC. Mr. Anderson is the chairman of the committee. The Audit Committee held 12 meetings during 2008. The primary responsibilities of the Audit Committee are to meet with our independent auditors to review the results of the annual audit and to discuss our financial statements, including the independent auditors’ judgment about the quality of accounting principles, the reasonableness of significant judgments, the clarity of the disclosures in our financial

statements, eBay’s internal control over financial reporting, and management’s report with respect to internal control over financial reporting. Additionally, the Audit Committee meets with our independent auditors to review the interim financial statements prior to the filing of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recommends to the Board the independent auditors to be retained by us, oversees the independence of the independent auditors, evaluates the independent auditors’ performance, reviews and approves the fees of the independent auditors, and receives and considers the independent auditors’ comments as to controls, adequacy of staff and management performance and procedures in connection with audit and financial controls, including our system to monitor and manage business risks and legal and ethical compliance programs. The Audit Committee approves the compensation of our Vice President of Internal Audit, who meets with the committee regularly without other members of management present.

 

The Audit Committee also prepares the Audit Committee Report for inclusion in our proxy statement, approves audit and non-audit services provided to us by our independent auditors, considers conflicts of interest and reviews all transactions with related persons involving executive officers or Board members that are reasonably expected to exceed specified thresholds, and meets with our General Counsel to discuss legal matters that may have a material impact on our financial statements or our compliance policies and with other members of management to discuss other areas of risk to the company. Our Board has determined that Mr. Anderson is an “audit committee financial expert” as defined by the SEC. You can view our Audit Committee Charter on the corporate governance section of our investor relations website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance.

 

Our Compensation Committee consists of Messrs. Barnholt, Bourguignon, Ford and Tierney. Mr. Ford joined the committee on March 27, 2008. Mr. Kagle was a member of the committee until his term as a director expired upon the conclusion of our 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on June 19, 2008. Mr. Barnholt is the chairman of the committee. The committee met nine times during 2008. The Compensation Committee reviews and approves all compensation programs applicable to directors and executive officers, the overall strategy for employee compensation, and the compensation of our CEO and our other executive officers. The committee also reviews the Compensation Discussion and Analysis contained in our proxy statement and prepares the Compensation Committee Report for inclusion in our proxy statement. All members of our Compensation Committee are independent under the listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The Compensation Committee Charter permits the committee to, in its discretion, delegate all or a portion of its duties and responsibilities to a subcommittee of the committee. You can view our Compensation Committee Charter on the corporate governance section of our investor relations website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance.

 

A more detailed description of the role of the committee, including the role of executive officers and consultants in compensation decisions, can be found under “Compensation Discussion and Analysis — Role of the Compensation Committee” and “— Role of Executive Officers and Consultants in Compensation Decisions” below.

 

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation.  All members of the Compensation Committee during 2008 were independent directors, and no member was an employee or former employee of eBay. No Compensation Committee member had any relationship requiring disclosure under Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC. During 2008, none of our executive officers served on the compensation committee (or its equivalent) or board of directors of another entity whose executive officer served on our Compensation Committee or Board.

 

Our Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee consists of Mr. Cook, Ms. Lepore, Mr. Schlosberg, and Mr. Tierney. Mr. Ford served on the committee until March 27, 2008. Mr. Cook is the chairman of the committee. The committee met four times during 2008. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee makes recommendations to the Board as to the appropriate size of the Board or any Board committee, reviews the qualifications of candidates for the Board of Directors, and makes recommendations to the Board of Directors on potential Board members (whether as a result of vacancies, including any vacancy created by an increase in the size

of the Board, or as part of the annual election cycle). The committee considers nominee recommendations from a variety of sources, including nominees recommended by stockholders. The committee has from time to time retained an executive search firm to help facilitate the screening and interview process of director nominees. The committee has not established specific minimum age, education, experience, or skill requirements for potential members, but, in general, expects that qualified candidates will have high-level managerial experience in a complex organization and will be able to represent the interests of the stockholders as a whole rather than special interest groups or constituencies. The committee considers each candidate’s integrity, judgment, skill, diversity of background, and time available to devote to Board activities, among other factors. The committee will also consider the interplay of a candidate’s skill and experience with that of other Board members, and the extent to which a candidate may be a desirable addition to any committee of the Board.

 

In addition to recommending director candidates, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee establishes procedures for the oversight and evaluation of the Board and management, reviews correspondence received from stockholders, and reviews on an annual basis a set of corporate governance guidelines for the Board. Stockholders wishing to submit recommendations or director nominations for our 2010 Annual Meeting of Stockholders should submit their proposals to the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee in care of our Corporate Secretary in accordance with the time limitations, procedures, and requirements described under the heading “May I propose actions for consideration at next year’s Annual Meeting or nominate individuals to serve as directors?” in the section entitled “Questions and Answers about the Proxy Materials and Our 2009 Annual Meeting” above. All members of our Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee are independent under the listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market. You can view our Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee Charter on the corporate governance section of our investor relations website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance.

 

The following table sets forth certain information known to us with respect to beneficial ownership of our common stock as of March 3, 2009, by (i) each stockholder known to us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our common stock, (ii) each director and nominee for director, (iii) each of the executive officers named in the Summary Compensation Table below, and (iv) all executive officers and directors as a group.

 

 

 

 

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our directors, executive officers, and holders of more than 10% of our common stock to file reports regarding their ownership and changes in ownership of our securities with the SEC, and to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) reports that they file.

 

We believe that during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, our directors, executive officers, and greater than 10% stockholders complied with all applicable Section 16(a) filing requirements, except that (i) one Form 4 involving an option exercise and sale of shares held by Mr. Cook was filed late, and (ii) one Form 4 involving the vesting of restricted stock units held by Mr. Thompson was filed late.

 

In making this statement, we have relied upon a review of the copies of Section 16(a) reports furnished to us and the written representations of our directors, executive officers, and greater than 10% stockholders.

 

The Audit Committee is charged with reviewing reports relating to (1) compliance program activities, and (2) the adjudication of potential conflict of interest situations under our Code of Business Conduct. The Audit Committee also reviews and approves all transactions with related persons that are required to be disclosed in this section of our proxy statement. The charter of our Audit Committee and our Code of Conduct may be found on our investor relations website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance.

 

Our Board has adopted a written policy for the review of related person transactions. For purposes of the policy, a related person transaction includes transactions in which (i) the amount involved is more than $120,000 in any consecutive twelve-month period, (ii) eBay is a participant, and (iii) any related person has a direct or indirect material interest. The policy defines a “related person” to include directors, nominees for director, executive officers, holders of more than 5% of eBay’s outstanding common stock and their respective immediate family members. Pursuant to the policy, all related person transactions must be approved by the Audit Committee or, in the event of an inadvertent failure to bring the transaction to the Audit Committee for pre-approval, ratified by the Audit Committee. In the event that a member of the Audit Committee has an interest in a related person transaction, the

transaction must be approved or ratified by the disinterested members of the Audit Committee. In deciding whether to approve or ratify a related person transaction, the Audit Committee will consider the following factors:

 

 

From time to time, we have entered into and may continue to enter into commercial arrangements with companies with which our directors or executive officers may have relationships (including as a director or executive officer of such other companies), but with respect to which our directors or executive officers do not have a material interest and, thus, are not required to be disclosed. These commercial arrangements are entered into in the ordinary course of business and on an arm’s-length basis.

 

In July 2008, PayPal entered into an ordinary course commercial transaction with Intuit Inc. involving the integration and promotion of PayPal as a preferred payment option in Intuit’s online Quickbooks Merchant Services. In connection with the transaction, PayPal agreed to pay Intuit a revenue share for PayPal Merchant Services accounts acquired through Intuit on terms consistent with the terms PayPal had offered other merchants in similar situations. Mr. Cook, a member of our Board, is a director and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Intuit. The Audit Committee pre-approved this transaction. We believe this transaction was made on terms no less favorable to us than we could have obtained from unaffiliated third parties and did not present an improper conflict of interest. While we do not believe that Mr. Cook had a direct or indirect material interest in this transaction, and thus it is not required to be disclosed, we are disclosing its existence as a matter of good corporate governance.

 

Ms. Whitman, our former President and CEO and a former member of our Board, entered into an aircraft time sharing agreement with eBay Inc., effective April 1, 2008, pursuant to which she agreed to reimburse us for her personal use of the corporate aircraft following her resignation as President and Chief Executive Officer on March 31, 2008. Under the terms of the agreement, Ms. Whitman agreed to reimburse us at the maximum amount allowable under applicable law. Ms. Whitman fulfilled her obligations under the agreement and reimbursed us $145,747, which exceeded the incremental cost incurred by us. The Audit Committee pre-approved the agreement. Given that Ms. Whitman reimbursed us in an amount that exceeded the incremental cost related to the operation of the corporate aircraft for her personal use after March 31, 2008, we do not consider such use to be a perquisite or to provide any other personal benefit to Ms. Whitman.

 

Mr. Omidyar from time to time makes his personal aircraft available to our officers for business purposes at no cost to us. No use of Mr. Omidyar’s personal aircraft was made by our officers during 2008.

 

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our directors and executive officers. These agreements require us to indemnify such individuals, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, for certain liabilities to which they may become subject as a result of their affiliation with eBay.

 

Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, each as amended to date, provide for the Board to be divided into three classes, with each class having a three-year term. The first class currently consists of four directors, the second class currently consists of five directors and the third class currently consists of three directors. The term of office for the first class expires at our 2011 Annual Meeting, the term of office for the second class expires at our upcoming Annual Meeting, and the term of office for the third class expires at our 2010 Annual Meeting. A director elected to fill a vacancy (including a vacancy created by an increase in the size of the Board) will serve for the remainder of the term of the class of directors in which the vacancy occurred and until his or her successor is elected and qualified, or until his or her earlier death, resignation, or removal.

 

Our Board is presently composed of 12 members, 10 of whom are currently independent directors within the meaning of the listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The five nominees standing for election at the Annual Meeting are from the class whose term of office expires at the upcoming Annual Meeting. These five nominees are all currently members of the Board of Directors, and, except for Mr. Andreessen, have been previously elected by the stockholders. If elected at the Annual Meeting, each of the nominees would serve until our 2012 Annual Meeting and until his or her successor is elected and qualified, or until his or her earlier death, resignation, or removal.

 

Majority Vote Standard for Election of Directors; Director Resignation Policy.  Our Bylaws require that each director be elected by the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast with respect to such director in uncontested elections such as this one (the number of shares voted “FOR” a director nominee must exceed the number of votes cast “AGAINST” that nominee). In a contested election, the standard for election of directors would be the affirmative vote of a plurality of the votes cast by the shares represented in person or by proxy at any such meeting and entitled to vote on the election of directors. A contested election is one in which the Board has determined that the number of nominees exceeds the number of directors to be elected at the meeting and has not rescinded this determination by the date that is at least 20 days prior to the date of the meeting as initially announced.

 

If a nominee who is serving as a director is not elected at the annual meeting, under Delaware law the director would continue to serve on the Board as a “holdover director” until his or her successor is elected and qualified, or until his or her earlier resignation or removal pursuant to our Bylaws. In accordance with our governance guidelines, our Board expects each incumbent director who is nominated for re-election to resign, in accordance with the procedure set froth in our Bylaws, from the Board if he or she fails to receive the required number of votes for re-election in accordance with our Bylaws. Our governance guidelines provide that, in considering whether to nominate any incumbent director for re-election, the Board will take into account whether the director has tendered an irrevocable resignation that will be effective upon the Board’s acceptance of such resignation in the event the director fails to receive the required vote to be re-elected. In the case of a proposed nominee who is not an incumbent director, the Board will take into account whether the individual has agreed to tender such a resignation prior to being nominated for re-election. If a nominee who is an incumbent director does not receive the required vote for re-election, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee or another committee of the Board will decide whether to accept or reject such director’s resignation (if the director has tendered such a resignation), or whether to take other action, within 90 days after the date of the certification of the election results (subject to an additional 90-day period in certain circumstances). In reaching its decision, the committee will review factors it deems relevant, which may include any stated reasons for “against” votes, whether the underlying cause or causes of the “against” votes are curable, criteria considered by the committee in evaluating potential candidates for the Board, the length of service of the director, the size and holding period of such director’s stock ownership in the company, and the director’s contributions to the company. The committee’s decision will be publicly disclosed in a filing with the SEC. If a nominee who was not already serving as a director fails to receive the required votes to be elected at the annual meeting, he or she will not become a member of the Board. Each director nominee is currently serving on the Board and has submitted an irrevocable resignation of the type described above.

Set forth below is biographical information for each of the nominees as well as for each director whose term of office will continue after the upcoming Annual Meeting.

 

NOMINEES FOR ELECTION FOR A THREE-YEAR TERM EXPIRING AT OUR 2012 ANNUAL MEETING

 

Marc L. Andreessen

 

Marc L. Andreessen, age 37, has served as a director of eBay since September 2008. Mr. Andreessen is a co-founder and chairman of Ning Inc., an online platform for people to create their own social networks founded in late 2004. From September 1999 to July 2007, Mr. Andreessen co-founded and served as the Chairman of the board of directors of Opsware, Inc. (formerly known as Loudcloud Inc.). From March 1999 to September 1999, Mr. Andreessen served as Chief Technology Officer of America Online, Inc. From April 1994 to March 1999, Mr. Andreessen was a co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation, a software company, serving in various positions, including Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Products. Mr. Andreessen also serves on the board of directors of Facebook Inc., Stanford Hospital and Room to Read. Mr. Andreessen holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

William C. Ford, Jr.

 

William C. Ford, Jr., age 51, has served as a director of eBay since July 2005. Mr. Ford has served as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company, a company that manufactures and distributes automobiles, since September 2006 and has served as Chairman of the Board of Ford since January 1999. Mr. Ford also serves as Chairman of Ford’s Finance Committee and as a member of Ford’s Environmental and Public Policy Committee. From October 2001 to September 2006, Mr. Ford was Ford’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Ford has held a number of management positions at Ford since 1979. Mr. Ford serves as Vice Chairman of The Detroit Lions, Inc. and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Henry Ford. He is also a Vice Chairman of Detroit Renaissance. Mr. Ford holds a B.A. degree from Princeton University and a M.S. degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Dawn G. Lepore

 

Dawn G. Lepore, age 54, has served as a director of eBay since December 1999. Ms. Lepore has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of drugstore.com, inc., a leading online provider of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy solutions, since October 2004. From August 2003 to October 2004, Ms. Lepore served as Vice Chairman of Technology, Active Trader, Operations, Business Strategy, and Administration for the Charles Schwab Corporation and Charles Schwab & Co, Inc., a financial holding company. Prior to this appointment, she held various positions with the Charles Schwab Corporation including: Vice Chairman of Technology, Operations, Business Strategy, and Administration from May 2003 to August 2003; Vice Chairman of Technology, Operations, and Administration from March 2002 to May 2003; Vice Chairman of Technology and Administration from November 2001 to March 2002; and Vice Chairman and Chief Information Officer from July 1999 to November 2001. Ms. Lepore also serves on the board of directors of The New York Times Company. Ms. Lepore holds a B.A. degree from Smith College.

 

Pierre M. Omidyar

 

Pierre M. Omidyar, age 41, founded eBay as a sole proprietorship in September 1995. He has been a director and Chairman of the Board since eBay’s incorporation in May 1996 and also served as its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and President from inception to February 1998, November 1997 and August 1996, respectively. Prior to founding eBay, Mr. Omidyar was a developer services engineer at General Magic, a mobile communications platform company, from December 1994 to July 1996. Mr. Omidyar co-founded Ink Development Corp. (later renamed eShop) in May 1991 and served as a software engineer there from May 1991 to September 1994. Prior to co-founding Ink, Mr. Omidyar was a developer for Claris, a subsidiary of Apple Inc., and for other Macintosh-oriented software development companies. Mr. Omidyar is currently co-founder and chairman of Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm committed to creating opportunity for individuals to improve

their lives. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Tufts University, Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, the Santa Fe Institute and the Punahou School, and as a director of Meetup, Inc. Mr. Omidyar holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Tufts University.

 

Richard T. Schlosberg, III

 

Richard T. Schlosberg, III, age 64, has served as a director of eBay since March 2004. From May 1999 to January 2004, Mr. Schlosberg served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a private family foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, Mr. Schlosberg was Executive Vice President of The Times Mirror Company and publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Times. Prior to that, he served in the same role at the Denver Post. Mr. Schlosberg serves on the board of directors of Edison International, and is also a member of the USO World Board of Governors, a trustee of Pomona College and a founding Director of the U.S. Air Force Academy Endowment. Mr. Schlosberg is also Chairman of the Board of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Mr. Schlosberg is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and holds an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.

 

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS
A VOTE IN FAVOR OF EACH NAMED NOMINEE.

 

DIRECTORS CONTINUING IN OFFICE UNTIL OUR 2010 ANNUAL MEETING

 

Philippe Bourguignon

 

Philippe Bourguignon, age 61, has served as a director of eBay since December 1999. Mr. Bourguignon has been Vice Chairman of Revolution Resorts, a division of Revolution LLC, a company focused on health, living, and resort investments and operations, since January 2006. From April 2004 to January 2006, Mr. Bourguignon served as Chairman of Aegis Media France, a media communications and market research company. From September 2003 to March 2004, Mr. Bourguignon was Co-Chief Executive Officer of The World Economic Forum (The DAVOS Forum). From August 2003 to October 2003, Mr. Bourguignon served as Managing Director of The World Economic Forum. From April 1997 to January 2003, Mr. Bourguignon served as Chairman of the Board of Club Méditerranée S.A., a resort operator. Prior to his appointment at Club Méditerranée S.A., Mr. Bourguignon was Chief Executive Officer of Euro Disney S.A., the parent company of Disneyland Paris, since 1993, and Executive Vice President of The Walt Disney Company (Europe) S.A. since October 1996. Mr. Bourguignon was named President of Euro Disney in 1992, a post he held through April 1993. He joined The Walt Disney Company in 1988 as head of Real Estate Development. Mr. Bourguignon holds a Masters Degree in Economics at the University of Aix-en-Provence and holds a post-graduate diploma from the Institut d’Administration des Enterprises (IAE) in Paris.

 

Thomas J. Tierney

 

Thomas J. Tierney, age 55, has served as a director of eBay since March 2003. Mr. Tierney is the founder of The Bridgespan Group, a non-profit consulting firm serving the non-profit sector, and has been its Chairman of the Board since late 1999. Prior to founding Bridgespan, Mr. Tierney served as Chief Executive Officer of Bain & Company, a consulting firm, from June 1992 to January 2000. Mr. Tierney holds a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of California at Davis and an M.B.A. degree with distinction from the Harvard Business School. Mr. Tierney is the co-author of a book about organization and strategy called Aligning the Stars.

 

David M. Moffett

 

David Moffett, age 57, has served as a director of eBay since July 2007. Mr. Moffett served as Chief Executive Officer of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) from September 2008 to March 2009, as a director of Freddie Mac from December 2008 to March 2009. Mr. Moffett has more than 30 years of strategic finance and operational experience in banking and payment processing. He joined Star Banc Corporation in 1993 as CFO and played integral roles as Star Banc Corporation acquired Firstar Corporation in 1998, which then acquired U.S. Bancorp in February 2001, retaining the U.S. Bancorp name. Prior to 1993, Mr. Moffett held executive

level positions at some of the nation’s leading financial services companies, including Bank of America and Security Pacific Corp. Mr. Moffett holds a B.S. degree in Economics from the University of Oklahoma and a Master’s degree from Southern Methodist University.

 

DIRECTORS CONTINUING IN OFFICE UNTIL OUR 2011 ANNUAL MEETING

 

Fred D. Anderson

 

Fred D. Anderson, age 64, has served as a director of eBay since July 2003. Mr. Anderson has been a Managing Director of Elevation Partners, a private equity firm focused on the media and entertainment industry, since July 2004. From March 1996 to June 2004, Mr. Anderson served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Apple Inc., a manufacturer of personal computers and related software. Prior to joining Apple Inc., Mr. Anderson was Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Automatic Data Processing, Inc., an electronic transaction processing firm, from August 1992 to March 1996. On April 24, 2007, the SEC filed a complaint against Mr. Anderson and another former officer of Apple Inc. The complaint alleged that Mr. Anderson failed to take steps to ensure that the accounting for an option granted in 2001 to certain executives of Apple Inc., including himself, was proper. Simultaneously with the filing of the complaint, Mr. Anderson settled with the SEC, neither admitting nor denying the allegations in the complaint. In connection with the settlement, Mr. Anderson agreed to a permanent injunction from future violations of Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act and Rules 13b2-2 and 16a-3 thereunder, and from aiding and abetting future violations of Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), 13(b)(2)(B), and 14(a) of the Exchange Act and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, 13a-13, and 14a-9 thereunder. He also agreed to disgorge approximately $3.5 million in profits and interest from the option he received and to pay a civil penalty of $150,000. Under the terms of the settlement, Mr. Anderson may continue to act as an officer or director of public companies. Mr. Anderson also serves on the board of directors of Move, Inc. and Palm, Inc. Mr. Anderson holds a B.A. degree from Whittier College and an M.B.A. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

Edward W. Barnholt

 

Edward W. Barnholt, age 65, has served as a director of eBay since April 2005. Mr. Barnholt served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Agilent Technologies, Inc., a measurement company, from May 1999 until March 2005, and served as Chairman of the Board of Agilent from November 2002 until March 2005. Before being named Agilent’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Barnholt served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Hewlett-Packard Company’s Measurement Organization from 1998 to 1999. From 1990 to 1998, he served as General Manager of Hewlett-Packard Company’s Test and Measurement Organization. He was elected a Senior Vice President of Hewlett-Packard Company in 1993 and an Executive Vice President in 1996. Mr. Barnholt also serves as the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of KLA-Tencor Corporation, a member of the Board of Directors of Adobe Systems Incorporated, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Mr. Barnholt holds a B.S. and an M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

 

Scott D. Cook

 

Scott D. Cook, age 56, has served as a director of eBay since June 1998. Mr. Cook is the founder of Intuit Inc., a maker of business and financial management technology solutions, including Quickbooks, Quicken and TurboTax. Mr. Cook has been a director of Intuit since March 1984 and is currently Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Intuit. From March 1993 to July 1998, Mr. Cook served as Chairman of the Board of Intuit. From March 1984 to April 1994, Mr. Cook served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Intuit. Mr. Cook also serves on the board of directors of The Procter & Gamble Company, The Asia Foundation and The Intuit Scholarship Foundation. Mr. Cook holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.

 

John J. Donahoe

 

John J. Donahoe, age 48, serves eBay as its President and CEO. He has served in that capacity since March 2008, as a director of eBay since January 2008. From January 2008 to March 2008, Mr. Donahoe served as CEO-

designate. From March 2005 to January 2008, Mr. Donahoe served as President, eBay Marketplaces. From January 2000 to February 2005, Mr. Donahoe served as Worldwide Managing Director for Bain & Company, a global business consulting firm. Mr. Donahoe serves on the Board of Trustees for Dartmouth College. Mr. Donahoe holds a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 

We are asking you to approve amendments to certain of our existing equity incentive plans to allow for a one-time stock option exchange program. Our Board of Directors, upon recommendation by our Compensation Committee, authorized the stock option exchange program on March 4, 2009, subject to stockholder approval of the equity incentive plan amendments. If implemented, this one-time stock option exchange program, or option exchange, would permit some of our employees, including employees of our majority-owned subsidiaries, to surrender certain outstanding stock options that are significantly “underwater” (i.e., those options with an exercise price that is significantly greater than our current trading price) for cancellation in exchange for a lesser number of restricted stock units, or RSUs, to be granted under the eBay Inc. 2008 Equity Incentive Award Plan, or the 2008 Plan. Each RSU issued in the option exchange program will represent an unfunded right to receive one share of our common stock on one or more specified future dates when the RSU vests.

 

We believe this option exchange program, as designed, is in the best interests of our stockholders and our employees. If approved by stockholders, we believe the option exchange would enable us to:

 

 

In designing our option exchange, we have taken into account our stockholders’ interests by focusing on the following exchange principles:

 

 

 

Stockholder approval of the amendments to our equity incentive plans to permit the option exchange is required under the Nasdaq listing rules and the terms of certain of our equity incentive plans.

 

Our ability to effect the option exchange is also contingent upon stockholder approval of Proposal 3 of this proxy statement at the Annual Meeting, which would amend the 2008 Plan to increase the number of shares of our common stock issuable under the plan by 50 million and would amend certain of our other equity incentive plans to decrease the number of shares issuable under those plans. If our stockholders approve Proposal 3 of this proxy statement and this proposal, and our Board, Compensation Committee or CEO determines to implement the option exchange, the option exchange would commence within 12 months of the date of the Annual Meeting.

 

Stockholder approval of this proposal requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast with respect to this proposal by the shares present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote thereon at the Annual Meeting. A “majority of votes cast” means that the number of votes “FOR” the approval of the option exchange must exceed the number of votes “AGAINST” the approval of the option exchange.

 

OVERVIEW

 

Like many companies, we have experienced a significant decline in our stock price over the last year in light of the current global financial and economic crisis. Our Marketplaces and Payments segments have been directly impacted by the global economic environment as buyers reduce their spending. Additional pressure on our stock price has been caused by the anticipated decrease in our net revenue and earnings per diluted share as a result of (i) the strengthening U.S. dollar, (ii) lower global interest rates, (iii) the uncertain global consumer spending environment, and (iv) the long-term slowing of our Marketplaces business. While we have made significant changes to simplify and streamline our organization, improve our cost structure, and strengthen our competitiveness, and we continue to make changes to enhance and diversify our portfolio of ecommerce businesses, our stock price has nevertheless declined. As a result, a considerable number of our employees hold stock options with exercise prices significantly above the recent trading prices of our common stock. In addition, the market for key employees remains extremely competitive, notwithstanding the current economic turmoil.

 

Because of the continued challenging economic environment and the uncertain impact of our efforts to change our business, we believe these underwater stock options are no longer effective as incentives to motivate and retain our employees. We believe that employees perceive that these options have little or no value. In addition, although these stock options are not likely to be exercised as long as our stock price is lower than the applicable exercise price, they will remain on our books with the potential to dilute stockholders’ interests for up to the full remaining term of these options, while delivering little or no retentive or incentive value and no opportunity to recapture value from the associated compensation expense, unless they are surrendered or cancelled.

 

The objective of our equity incentive plans has been, and continues to be, to link the personal interests of equity incentive plan participants to those of our stockholders. We believe that, if approved by our stockholders, the option exchange would be an important component in our efforts to:

 

 

 

The majority of the stock options eligible for the option exchange were granted under our guidelines as part of our periodic broad-based focal grants. The table below reflects information as of February 17, 2009 regarding the outstanding options that were granted as part of our periodic broad-based focal grants that would be eligible for the option exchange if the highest per share trading price of our common stock for the 52-week period immediately preceding the start of the option exchange was at or below $27.01.

 

 

 

 

In addition to our periodic broad-based focal grants, historically we have granted options under our guidelines at varying times and having a broad range of exercise prices generally to newly hired employees and employees who have been promoted outside our focal granting processes. Please see “Compensation Discussion and Analysis — Equity Compensation Grant Practices.” We have also assumed options previously granted by other companies in connection with our acquisition of those companies; however, these options constitute a minimal portion of the options eligible for exchange under the option exchange. The table below reflects information as of February 17, 2009 regarding the options that were not granted as part of our periodic broad-based focal grants that would be eligible for the option exchange if the highest per share trading price of our common stock for the 52-week period immediately preceding the start of the option exchange was at or below $27.01.

 

 

In sum, as of February 17, 2009, assuming that the highest per share trading price of our common stock for the 52-week period immediately preceding the start of the option exchange was at or below $27.01, the total number of shares underlying options that would be eligible for the option exchange was approximately 62.53 million.

 

If our stockholders do not approve the amendments to certain of our equity incentive plans to provide for the option exchange or if our stockholders do not approve Proposal 3 of this proxy statement to increase the number of shares available for issuance under the 2008 Plan, eligible options will remain outstanding in accordance with their existing terms. We will continue to recognize compensation expense for these eligible options, even though these options may have little or no retentive or incentive value.

 

Summary of Material Terms

 

The option exchange authorized by the amendments to certain of our existing equity incentive plans, if approved by our stockholders, would provide for the following:

 

 

 

While the terms of the option exchange are expected to be materially similar to the terms described in this proposal, each of our Board, Compensation Committee and CEO will have the discretion to change the terms of the option exchange to take into account a change in circumstances or local regulations and to determine not to implement the option exchange even if stockholder approval of the amendment of the equity incentive plans is obtained.

 

Reasons for the Option Exchange

 

We believe that to be successful, our employees need to think like owners. Consistent with this philosophy, our equity program continues to be broad-based. This broad-based equity program provides us with a competitive advantage, particularly in our efforts to hire and retain top talent in technology-related fields.

 

Due to the significant decline of our stock price during the last year, many of our employees now hold stock options with exercise prices significantly higher than the current market price of our common stock. For example, the closing price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on March 3, 2009 was $10.42, whereas the weighted average exercise price of all outstanding options held by our employees on that date was $28.77. As of February 17, 2009, assuming the per share trading price of our common stock was $12.00, approximately 96% of outstanding stock options held by our employees were underwater. Although we continue to believe that equity awards are an important component of our employees’ total incentive benefits and provide us with a competitive advantage, we also believe that many of our employees view their existing options as having little or no value due to the significant difference between the exercise prices and the current market price of our common stock. In addition, the market for key employees remains extremely competitive, notwithstanding the current economic turmoil. As a

result, for many employees, we believe that those stock options that are significantly underwater are no longer effective at providing the incentives that our Board and Compensation Committee believe are necessary to motivate and retain our employees.

 

Alternatives Considered

 

When considering how best to continue to provide incentives to and reward our employees who hold options that are significantly underwater, we considered the following alternatives:

 

 

The Option Exchange

 

After weighing each of these alternatives, subject to the exceptions described in this proposal, we have decided to provide an option-for-RSU exchange. We have determined that a program under which our employees generally

could exchange significantly underwater stock options for a substantially smaller number of RSUs was the most attractive alternative for a number of reasons, including the following:

 

 

DETAILS OF THE STOCK OPTION EXCHANGE PROGRAM

 

Implementing the Option Exchange

 

We have not commenced the option exchange and will not do so unless our stockholders approve this proposal to amend certain of our equity incentive plans to permit the option exchange and Proposal 3 to increase the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2008 Plan. Our Board authorized the option exchange on March 4, 2009, subject to such stockholder approval. If this proposal is approved, and our Board, Compensation Committee or CEO determines to implement the option exchange, the option exchange would commence within 12 months of the date of the Annual Meeting.

If stockholders approve this proposal to amend certain of our equity incentive plans and Proposal 3 and the Board, Compensation Committee or CEO determines to commence the option exchange, eligible employees will be offered the opportunity to participate in the option exchange pursuant to a written offer that will be distributed to all eligible employees. Eligible employees will be given at least 20 business days in which to accept the offer of the new RSUs in exchange for the surrender of their eligible options. The surrendered options will be cancelled on the first business day following this election period. The new RSUs will be granted under the 2008 Plan on the date of cancellation of the surrendered options. In those limited cases where new options will be granted or cash payments made in exchange for surrendered options, such grants or payments also will be made on the date of the cancellation of the surrendered options. The shares of our common stock subject to surrendered options will not be available for future issuance under our equity incentive plans once the surrendered options are cancelled.

 

Prior to commencement of the option exchange, we will file the offer to exchange with the SEC as part of a tender offer statement on Schedule TO. Eligible employees, as well as stockholders and members of the public, will be able to review the offer to exchange and other related documents filed by us with the SEC free of charge on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

Eligibility

 

If implemented, the option exchange will be open to all of our active employees, worldwide, including any employees of our majority-owned subsidiaries, who hold options with a per share exercise price greater than or equal to the highest per share trading price of our common stock for the 52-week period immediately preceding the start of the option exchange, except where we determine that it is infeasible or impractical to offer the option exchange under local regulations. Our named executive officers and members of the Board will not be eligible to participate in the option exchange. Based on the assumptions described below, as of February 17, 2009, we estimate that approximately 93% of our employees holding options would be eligible to participate in the option exchange. The program also will not be available to any former employees. An active employee who tenders his or her options for exchange must also remain an eligible employee through the date the new RSU grant is made following the completion of the option exchange in order to receive the new RSUs. Active employment does not include any period of “garden leave” or notice periods that may be provided for under local law. If an option holder is no longer an active employee with us or one of our majority-owned subsidiaries for any reason, including layoff, termination, voluntary resignation, death or disability, on the date that the option exchange is commenced, that option holder cannot participate in the option exchange. If an option holder is no longer an active employee with us or one of our majority-owned subsidiaries for any reason on the date that the new RSU grant is made following the completion of the offer, even if he or she had elected to participate and had tendered his or her options for exchange, such employee’s tender will automatically be deemed withdrawn and he or she will not participate in the option exchange. He or she will retain his or her outstanding options in accordance with their original terms and conditions, and he or she may exercise them during a limited period of time following termination of employment in accordance with their terms and to the extent that they are vested. A vote by an employee in favor of this proposal at the Annual Meeting does not constitute an election to participate in the option exchange.

 

Based on the assumptions described under “Details of the Stock Option Exchange Program — Exchange Ratios” below, of the outstanding options held by eligible employees as of February 17, 2009, the maximum number of shares of common stock underlying options which could be surrendered for exchange is 62.53 million, and the maximum number of shares of common stock which would be subject to RSUs granted under the proposed option exchange, using the estimated exchange ratios below, would be 3.57 million. The amount of cash that we expect would be paid under the proposed option exchange, using the estimated exchange ratios below, is approximately $1.9 million.

 

Exchange Ratios

 

The exchange ratios set forth below for the option exchange (that is, how many options an employee must surrender in order to receive one RSU) will be determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with a computation of expected volatility based on a combination of historical and market-based implied volatility from traded options on our common stock. Volatility is calculated on the same basis as we use for calculating stock expense under FAS 123(R). We chose to use this model to enable us to implement the option exchange in a manner

that will result in the granting of new RSUs that have approximately 90% of the fair value of the stock options that are surrendered, and to avoid the stockholder dilution that occurs when all options are exchanged on a one option for one RSU basis. New RSU grants calculated according to the exchange ratios will be rounded down to the nearest whole share on a grant-by-grant basis. Fractional RSUs will not be issued.

 

The ratios set forth below are for illustrative purposes only. They were established based on an illustrative stock price of $12.00, and the assumption that the highest per share trading price of our common stock for the 52-week period immediately preceding the start of the option exchange was at or below $27.01, and on the principle that the new RSUs granted will have approximately 90% of the fair value of the stock options that are surrendered in the option exchange. Since the majority of eligible options were granted as part of our periodic broad-based focal grants and the terms of the options granted in connection with a particular focal grant are substantially similar, we have calculated exchange ratios separately for those options granted as part of our periodic broad-based focal grants and those granted apart from our focal grants. The actual exchange ratios will be determined at the time the option exchange commences based on our then-current stock price and volatility.

 

The illustrative exchange ratios for new RSUs granted in exchange for surrendered options which were originally part of a periodic broad-based focal grant are set forth in the table below.

 

 

The illustrative exchange ratios for new RSUs granted in exchange for surrendered options which were granted apart from a periodic broad-based focal grant are set forth in the table below.

 

 

Election to Participate

 

Participation in the option exchange will be voluntary. Under the option exchange, eligible employees may make an election to surrender eligible stock options that have an exercise price greater than or equal to the highest per share trading price of our common stock for the 52-week period immediately preceding the start of the option exchange in exchange for new RSUs in accordance with the actual exchange ratios, which will be determined at the time the option exchange commences.

 

Vesting of New RSUs

 

New RSUs granted in the option exchange will not be vested on their date of grant regardless of whether the surrendered option was fully vested. Instead, the new RSUs will vest in equal installments on each anniversary of the date of grant of the new RSUs with the number of installments determined using the date the new RSUs granted in the option exchange are issued and the date the surrendered option would have otherwise become fully vested.

For illustrative purposes, the table below provides the vesting schedule with respect to the new RSUs (unless local regulations or restrictions require that the vesting occur later than the first anniversary of the date of grant), assuming that the new RSUs are issued on August 1, 2009:

 

 

For example, if an eligible option was granted on March 1, 2007 and would vest with respect to 25% of the shares subject to the eligible option on the first anniversary of the date of grant and then with respect to 2.08% of the shares over the subsequent 36 months, the eligible option would become fully vested on March 1, 2011. Using the table above, new RSUs granted in exchange for the surrender of this eligible option would vest in three equal installments on the first three anniversaries of the date the new RSUs are granted.

 

New RSUs will only vest if the award holder remains an employee with us or one of our majority-owned subsidiaries. Any portion of the new RSUs that are not vested at termination of employment will be forfeited. As described above, the new RSUs will be completely unvested on the date of grant, regardless of whether the surrendered options were partially or completely vested.

 

Term and Conditions of New RSUs

 

The terms and conditions of the new RSUs will be governed by the terms and conditions of the 2008 Plan and the RSU agreement entered into thereunder.

 

New Stock Options

 

In Canada, and potentially in other foreign jurisdictions, an option-for-RSU exchange is subject to taxation on the date the options are cancelled in exchange for the new RSUs grants. In light of the potential adverse consequences of such taxation to eligible employees in foreign jurisdictions such as Canada, we will grant a lesser number of new options in exchange for surrendered options held by employees in Canada and other foreign jurisdictions where we determine that the tax consequences of an option-for-RSU exchange are prohibitively adverse to employees. We expect this to be the case in an immaterial number of foreign jurisdictions. Any new options granted as part of the option exchange will be granted on the date of cancellation of the old options, will have a per share exercise price equal to the fair market value of our common stock on the date of grant and will have a fair value intended to be approximately equal to 90% of the fair value of the surrendered options (as calculated using the same assumptions as are used for the RSU exchange ratios). Any new options granted as part of the option exchange will vest in same manner described above for new RSUs granted in exchange for surrendered options.

 

Cash Payments

 

In certain instances where we have determined that offering RSUs would provide minimal retentive value, would be overly burdensome to implement or administer or would not provide a meaningful benefit to holders of eligible options, we will provide for a cash payment in exchange for surrendered options. Generally, this will be limited to cases where less than an aggregate of 100 new RSUs would be issuable to an employee in the option exchange. The amount of the cash payment will be calculated based on the RSU exchange ratio and in a manner intended to provide those receiving cash payments with approximately 90% of the fair value of their surrendered options, less any taxes and social insurance contributions due on the payments. The cash payments will not be subject to any vesting schedule and will be made on the date that replacement RSUs are granted. The aggregate number of eligible options that may be exchanged for cash payments as of February 17, 2009 based upon the illustrative exchange ratios is approximately 3.0 million and we expect the amount of these cash payments to be approximately $1.9 million, assuming all such eligible options are exchanged.

U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences and Other Tax Consequences

 

The option exchange should be treated as a non-taxable exchange for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and we and our participating employees should recognize no income for U.S. federal income tax purposes upon the issuance of the new RSUs. Recipients of cash payments will recognize ordinary income for U.S. federal income tax purposes on the date the cash payments are made to them, and the payments will be subject to applicable tax withholdings. The tax consequences of the option exchange in foreign jurisdictions will depend on applicable foreign tax rules and regulations but will be fully disclosed to participants subject to the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions as part of the offer to exchange options.

 

Accounting Impact

 

The intent of the option exchange is that it will not result in us incurring significant additional compensation expenses. Based on this objective, the average fair value of the awards granted to employees in exchange for surrendered stock options, measured as of the date such awards are granted (and the amount of any cash payments made for eligible options) will be equal to approximately 90% of the fair value of the surrendered options (other than compensation expense that might result from fluctuations in stock price after the exchange ratios have been set but before the exchange actually occurs). The unamortized compensation expense from the surrendered options and incremental compensation expense, if any, associated with the new awards under the option exchange will be recognized over the service period of the new awards. If any portion of the new awards granted is forfeited due to termination of employment, the compensation cost for the forfeited portion of the award generally will not be recognized. Based on the assumptions described under “Details of the Stock Option Program — Exchange Ratios” above, and assuming that our stock price does not materially fluctuate between the establishment of the exchange ratios and the date the exchange actually occurs, then, as a result of the option exchange, we would expect to recognize an incremental non-cash accounting charge of approximately $1 million to $2 million over the vesting period of the new awards. However, even if our stock price fluctuates between the date the option exchange commences and the date the exchange actually occurs, we would not expect to recognize any material non-cash accounting charges as a result of the option exchange.

 

Potential Modification to Terms to Comply with Governmental Requirements

 

The terms of the option exchange will be described in a tender offer document that will be filed with the SEC. Although we do not anticipate that the SEC would require us to modify the terms materially, it is possible that we will need to alter the terms of the option exchange to comply with potential SEC comments. In addition, it is currently our intention to make the program available to our eligible employees, including eligible employees of our majority-owned subsidiaries who are located outside of the United States, where permitted by local law and where we determine it is feasible and practical to do so. It is possible that we will make modifications to the terms offered to employees in countries outside the United States to comply with local requirements, or for tax or accounting reasons. Specifically, as described above, because of the adverse tax consequences to participants who are resident in Canada of an option-for-RSU exchange, we intend to issue a lesser number of options, calculated based on the same methodology as for the option-for-RSU exchange described above, to employees resident in Canada and potentially to employees in jurisdictions with similar adverse tax consequences.

 

Benefits of the Option Exchange to Eligible Employees

 

Because the decision whether to participate in the option exchange is completely voluntary, we are not able to predict who will participate, how many options any particular group of employees will elect to exchange, or the number of new RSUs that we may grant. As noted above, however, our named executive officers and members of our Board are not eligible to participate in the option exchange. The option exchange also will not be available to any former employees of us or our majority-owned subsidiaries.

 

Effect on Stockholders

 

The option exchange was designed to provide renewed incentives and motivate the eligible employees to continue to create stockholder value and reduce the number of shares currently subject to outstanding options,

thereby avoiding the dilution in ownership that normally results from supplemental grants of new stock options or other awards. We are unable to predict the precise impact of the option exchange on our stockholders because we cannot predict which or how many employees will elect to participate in the option exchange, and which or how many eligible options such employees will elect to exchange. Please see the “Details of Stock Option Exchange Program — Eligibility” section above for the approximate reduction in the number of shares underlying options outstanding assuming that 100% of eligible options are exchanged and new awards are issued in accordance with the exchange ratios set forth above.

 

Text of Amendments to Existing Equity Plans

 

In order to permit us to implement the option exchange in compliance with our existing equity incentive plans and applicable Nasdaq listing rules, our Compensation Committee recommended and our Board approved amendments to certain of our equity incentive plans, subject to approval of the amendments by our stockholders. We are seeking stockholder approval to amend the following existing equity incentive plans, which we refer to hereinafter as the amended equity incentive plans: the 2008 Plan, eBay Inc. 2001 Equity Incentive Plan, eBay Inc. 1999 Global Equity Incentive Plan, eBay Inc. 1998 Equity Incentive Plan and Shopping.com Ltd. 2004 Equity Incentive Plan, to provide for the option exchange notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the respective plan. The amendments will read substantially as follows:

 

Notwithstanding any other provision of the Plan to the contrary, upon approval of this amendment by the Company’s stockholders in accordance with the terms of this Plan, our Board of Directors or Compensation Committee may provide for, and the Company may implement, a one-time-only option exchange offer, pursuant to which certain outstanding Options could, at the election of the person holding such Option, be tendered to the Company for cancellation in exchange for the issuance of a lesser amount of restricted stock units, stock options or cash payments, provided that such one-time-only option exchange offer is commenced within 12 months of the date of such stockholder approval.

 

Summary of our Amended Equity Incentive Plans

 

The following is a summary of the material terms of the amended equity incentive plans. A more comprehensive discussion of the material terms of the 2008 Plan and the U.S. federal income tax consequences of awards granted under the 2008 Plan is included in Proposal 3 of this proxy statement and is incorporated into this proposal by this reference. We administer the other amended equity incentive plans consistent with our administration of the 2008 Plan, and the U.S. federal income tax consequences associated with awards under our other amended equity incentive plans are the same as similar awards granted under the 2008 Plan.

 

Generally, the amended equity incentive plans provide for equity awards to be made to our employees, directors and executive officers. Currently, the types of awards that our Compensation Committee grants consist of incentive stock options, or ISOs, non-statutory stock options, or NSOs, restricted stock units, or RSUs, nonvested shares of our common stock, which we also refer to as restricted stock, and performance-based RSUs. As of December 31, 2008, 79.4 million shares were available for future grant under our amended equity incentive plans.

 

Stock options granted under the amended equity incentive plans generally vest 25% one year from the date of grant (or 12.5% six months from the date of grant for grants to existing employees), and the remainder vest at a rate of 2.08% per month thereafter, and generally expire seven to ten years from the date of grant. The cost of stock options is determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model on the date of grant.

 

RSUs and restricted stock are granted to eligible employees under our amended equity incentive plans. In general, RSUs and restricted stock vest over one to five years, are subject to the employees’ continuing service to us and do not have an expiration date. The cost of RSUs and nonvested shares is determining using the fair value of our common stock on the date of grant.

 

Certain executives are eligible for performance-based RSUs under our amended equity incentive plans. The number of RSUs ultimately received depends on our business performance against specified performance targets set by the Compensation Committee. If the performance criteria are satisfied, the performance-based RSUs will vest on specified dates or over any period determined by the Compensation Committee.

The table below sets forth the types of awards that we may grant under each of the amended equity incentive plans.

 

 

 

 

The option exchange is contingent upon stockholder approval of Proposal 3 of this proxy statement at the Annual Meeting, which would amend the 2008 Plan to increase the number of shares of our common stock issuable under the plan by 50 million, to a total of 85 million. As of March 3, 2009, an aggregate of 35 million shares are authorized pursuant to the 2008 Plan, and 7.2 million shares are available for grant under the 2008 Plan. As of March 3, 2009, there were a total of 105.3 million shares underlying options outstanding under our amended equity incentive plans. Based on the assumptions described under “Details of the Stock Option Exchange Program — Exchange Ratios” above, of the outstanding options under our amended equity incentive plans, as of March 3, 2009, options to purchase 62.53 million shares of common stock would be eligible for exchange under the proposed option exchange. Assuming all of the 62.53 million eligible options are surrendered and cancelled pursuant to the option exchange, 3.57 million shares would be needed in order to issue the new RSUs in accordance with the estimated exchange ratios. Since there would not be enough shares available for grant under the 2008 Plan in order to continue to make grants consistent with our equity compensation grant practices and effect the option exchange, the option exchange is contingent upon stockholder approval of Proposal 3 in this proxy statement, which proposal would increase the number of shares issuable under the 2008 Plan by an additional 50 million, to a total of 85 million shares.

 

VOTE REQUIRED

 

Approval of the amendment of the amended equity incentive plans requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast with respect to this proposal by the shares present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote thereon at the Annual Meeting. A “majority of votes cast” means that the number of votes “FOR” the approval of the amendment must exceed the number of votes “AGAINST” the approval of the amendment.

 

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS
A VOTE IN FAVOR OF PROPOSAL 2.

 

We are asking you to approve an amendment and restatement of the eBay Inc. 2008 Equity Incentive Award Plan, or the 2008 Plan, to increase the number of shares of common stock we may issue under the 2008 Plan by 50 million to 85 million and to add market share and volume metrics as performance criteria for performance-based awards granted under the 2008 Plan. Our Board adopted, subject to stockholder approval, the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan to provide us the continued ability to grant a variety of equity awards as a valuable tool to help attract and retain members of our Board and employees and consultants of our company and its subsidiaries. In addition, an increase to the number of shares of common stock reserved under the 2008 Plan will ensure that we will be able to grant restricted stock units, or RSUs, under the 2008 Plan in exchange for cancelled options in the event that the option exchange described in Proposal 2 of this proxy statement is approved. The amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan will only become effective if it is approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast with respect to this proposal by the shares present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote thereon at the Annual Meeting.

 

A “majority of votes cast” means that the number of votes “FOR” the approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan must exceed the number of votes “AGAINST” the approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The purpose of the 2008 Plan is to promote the success and enhance the value of our company by linking the personal interests of employees, the members of our Board, and consultants to those of our stockholders and by providing these individuals with an incentive to work to generate superior returns to our stockholders. The 2008 Plan is also intended to provide us with flexibility in creating competitive plans to motivate, attract, and retain the services of employees, members of our Board and consultants upon whose judgment, interest, and special effort our success is largely dependent.

 

We believe that to be successful, our employees need to think like owners. Consistent with this philosophy, our equity program continues to be broad-based. This broad-based equity program provides us with a competitive advantage, particularly in our efforts to hire and retain top talent in technology-related fields. Furthermore, we encourage stock ownership by our senior executives and members of our Board through the use of equity awards and stock ownership guidelines applicable to our executive officers and directors.

 

As a result of various historical factors, we currently maintain multiple plans, each typically used to grant awards to different groups of employees. Over the next several years, we intend to reduce the number of plans we administer to two plans, one for stock options and the other for full-value equity grants, including RSUs, deferred stock units, and performance-based RSUs. A simple, smoothly functioning equity award program is an important component of our general compensation program and helps streamline our daily operations.

 

As explained in greater detail in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section of this proxy statement, over time our equity grants have shifted from being made in the form of stock options to being made in the form of combinations of RSUs, performance-based RSUs and/or stock options for our most senior classes of employees and purely as RSUs for other employees. As a result of this shift, we have granted substantially all of the RSUs that can be granted under our equity incentive plans. In order to continue to make grants in accordance with the compensation philosophy adopted by the Compensation Committee, our Compensation Committee and the Board have approved and are asking you to approve the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan. This will ensure that we have sufficient shares authorized and available for grants of equity awards and the flexibility to create the most appropriate equity grant program possible, including the option exchange contemplated by Proposal 2 of this proxy statement.

 

The 2008 Plan, as amended and restated subject to stockholder approval, authorizes 85 million shares of our common stock for issuance pursuant to the 2008 Plan. In connection with the adoption of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan, the Board has authorized, contingent upon stockholder approval of the amendment

and restatement of the 2008 Plan, the amendment of the eBay Inc. 2001 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2001 Plan, to reduce the number of shares reserved for issuance and, therefore, available for grant under those plans by approximately 16 million shares of common stock to help offset the dilutive impact created by the adoption to the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan, which will reduce the number of shares available for grant pursuant to the 2001 Plan to approximately 26.4 million shares. In addition, contingent upon stockholder approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan, we will not make any new grants under the eBay Inc. 1999 Global Equity Incentive Plan, or the 1999 Plan, following our receipt of such stockholder approval. As of March 3, 2009, we had approximately 6.1 million shares available for grant pursuant to the 1999 Plan.

 

Assuming stockholder approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan (together with the contingent reduction of shares available for grant under the 2001 Plan described above and our ceasing to make any new grants under the 1999 Plan following stockholder approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan) and based on the awards outstanding under our equity incentive plans as of March 3, 2009, we will have a total of approximately 84.4 million shares available to grant under all plans, consisting of (i) an aggregate total of approximately 26.4 million shares available for grant under the 2001 Plan (ii) approximately 848,000 shares available for grant under the eBay Inc. 2003 Deferred Stock Unit Plan, or 2003 Plan, and (iii) 57.2 million shares available for grant under the 2008 Plan. The number of shares available for grant under the 2008 Plan, 2003 Plan and 2001 Plan may increase in connection with the cancellation or forfeiture of awards outstanding under such plans. We do not allow for liberal share counting under the 2001 Plan, and any shares of common stock tendered in payment of an award’s exercise price, shares withheld to pay taxes, and shares repurchased by us using option proceeds may not be added back into the authorized pool of shares eligible for grant pursuant to the 2001 Plan.

 

The following tables provide information about our outstanding stock options as of March 3, 2009. Approximately 71.7% of outstanding stock options were exercisable on that date and 65.2% of exercisable options had exercise prices above the closing price on that date. In addition to stock options, we had 42.5 million unvested RSUs outstanding as of March 3, 2009.

 

 

 

 

The Company’s equity overhang on March 3, 2009, considering all equity incentive awards granted plus shares available for grant under all active plans, was 16.8%.

 

The Company and the Compensation Committee review our equity program annually to ensure that we are balancing our goal to include the use of equity in our compensation programs in order to attract and motivate our employees with our interest and our stockholders’ interest in limiting dilution from equity plans. We have adjusted our grant guidelines over the past two years to significantly increase the use of RSUs in lieu of stock options for our broad-based equity program, and, as described in detail in Proposal 2 of this proxy statement, we propose to exchange new grants of RSUs with surrendered eligible stock options with per share exercise prices greater than or equal to the highest per share trading price of our common stock for the 52-week period immediately preceding the start of the option exchange. We have also monitored market trends carefully and have made reductions in our grant guidelines at most levels to reflect the reduced use of equity by our competitors. The following table provides information on our annual share usage.

 

Run Rate (shares in millions)

 

 

 

 

The 2008 Plan, as amended and restated subject to stockholder approval, also provides for market share and volume metrics as new performance criteria for the purposes of granting awards that qualify as performance-based compensation within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. We believe that the addition of market share and volume metrics (e.g., measures such as the total number of items bought in a period for the core marketplace business and total minutes of use for Skype) to the performance criteria approved for performance-based awards under the 2008 Plan will provide us more flexibility to make awards under the 2008 Plan using performance goals that continue to align the interests of our named executive officers with those of our stockholders by allowing us to correlate the earning of compensation under the 2008 Plan with key metrics by which we believe our businesses are measured over time.

A summary of the principal provisions of the 2008 Plan is set forth below. The summary is qualified by reference to the full text of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan, which is attached as Appendix A to this proxy statement.

 

GENERAL

 

 

ADMINISTRATION

 

The 2008 Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of our Board. The Compensation Committee may delegate to a committee of one or more members of our Board or one or more of our officers the authority to grant or amend awards to participants other than our senior executives who are subject to Section 16 of the Exchange Act or employees who are “covered employees” within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the regulations thereunder, or the Code. Pursuant to this provision, our Compensation Committee is currently in the practice of delegating to our Chief Executive Officer the authority to determine and make most of the individual grants to our employees below the level of Senior Vice President within guidelines approved by the Compensation Committee. Unless otherwise determined by the Board, the Compensation Committee shall consist solely of two or more members of the Board, each of whom is an “outside director” within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Code, a non-employee director, and an “independent director” under the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market (or other principal securities market on which shares of our common stock are traded).

 

The Compensation Committee has the exclusive authority to administer the 2008 Plan, including the power to determine eligibility, the types and sizes of awards, the price and timing of awards and the acceleration or waiver of any vesting restriction, as well as the authority to delegate such administrative responsibilities.

 

ELIGIBILITY

 

Persons eligible to participate in the 2008 Plan include all non-employee members of our Board, consisting of eleven directors following the Annual Meeting, approximately 16,200 employees of the company and its subsidiaries and affiliates, as determined by the Compensation Committee, and consultants.

 

LIMITATION ON AWARDS AND SHARES AVAILABLE

 

Subject to stockholder approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan, an aggregate of 85 million shares of common stock are available for grant pursuant to the 2008 Plan. The shares of common stock covered by the 2008 Plan may be treasury shares, authorized but unissued shares, or shares purchased in the open market.

To the extent that an award terminates, expires, or lapses for any reason, or an award is settled in cash without delivery of shares to the participant, then any shares subject to the award may be used again for new grants under the 2008 Plan. Additionally, any shares tendered or withheld to satisfy the grant or exercise price or tax withholding obligation pursuant to any award may be used again for new grants under the 2008 Plan. To the extent permitted by applicable law or any exchange rule, shares issued in assumption of, or in substitution for, any outstanding awards of any entity acquired in any form of combination by us or any of our subsidiaries or affiliates will not be counted against shares available for issuance under the 2008 Plan. The payment of dividend equivalents in conjunction with outstanding awards will not be counted against the shares available for issuance under the 2008 Plan.

 

The maximum number of shares of common stock that may be subject to one or more awards granted to any one participant pursuant to the 2008 Plan during any calendar year is 1 million and the maximum amount that may be paid in cash during any calendar year with respect to any performance-based award is $3,000,000.

 

AWARDS

 

The 2008 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, restricted stock, RSUs, stock appreciation rights, performance shares, performance stock units, dividend equivalents, stock payments, deferred stock units, other stock-based awards, and performance-based awards. No determination has been made as to the types or amounts of awards that will be granted in the future to specific individuals pursuant to the 2008 Plan. See the description under the New Plan Benefits heading below or the Summary Compensation Table and Grants of Plan-Based Awards Table below for information on prior awards to our named executive officers identified in those tables.

 

Stock Options.  Stock options, including incentive stock options, as defined under Section 422 of the Code, and nonqualified stock options may be granted pursuant to the 2008 Plan. The option exercise price of all stock options granted pursuant to the 2008 Plan will not be less than 100% of the fair market value of the common stock on the date of grant. Stock options may be exercised as determined by the Compensation Committee, but in no event may a stock option have a term extending beyond the tenth anniversary of the date of grant.

 

While we do not currently grant any incentive stock options and have no current intent to do so, to preserve maximum flexibility, the 2008 Plan allows us to grant incentive stock options. Incentive stock options granted to any person who owns, as of the date of grant, stock possessing more than ten percent of the total combined voting power of all classes of eBay stock, however, shall have an exercise price that is not less than 110% of the fair market value of the common stock on the date of grant and may not have a term extending beyond the fifth anniversary of the date of grant. The aggregate fair market value of the shares with respect to which options intended to be incentive stock options are exercisable for the first time by an employee in any calendar year may not exceed $100,000, or such other amount as the Code provides.

 

The Compensation Committee determines the methods by which payments by any award holder with respect to any awards may be paid, the form of payment, including, without limitation: (1) cash, (2) shares of common stock held for such period of time as may be required by the Compensation Committee in order to avoid adverse accounting consequences and having a fair market value on the date of delivery equal to the aggregate payments required, or (3) other property acceptable to the Compensation Committee (including through the delivery of a notice that the award holder has placed a market sell order with a broker with respect to shares of common stock then issuable upon exercise or vesting of an award, and that the broker has been directed to pay a sufficient portion of the net proceeds of the sale to us in satisfaction of the aggregate payments required; provided that payment of such proceeds is then made to us upon settlement of such sale). However, no participant who is a member of the Board or an “executive officer” of the company within the meaning of Section 13(k) of the Exchange Act will be permitted to pay the exercise price of an option in any method which would violate the prohibitions on loans made or arranged by us as set forth in Section 13(k) of the Exchange Act.

 

Restricted Stock Units.  RSUs may be granted pursuant to the 2008 Plan. An RSU award provides for the issuance of common stock at a future date upon the satisfaction of specific conditions set forth in the applicable award agreement. The vesting and maturity dates will be established at the time of grant, and may provide for the deferral of receipt of the common stock beyond the vesting date. On the maturity date, we will transfer to the participant one unrestricted, fully transferable share of common stock for each RSU scheduled to be paid out on

such date and not previously forfeited. The Compensation Committee will specify the purchase price, if any, to be paid by the participant to us for such shares of common stock. RSUs may constitute, or provide for a deferral of compensation, subject to Section 409A of the Code and there may be certain tax consequences if the requirements of Section 409A of the Code are not met. The tax consequences for RSUs outside of the U.S. may differ from the U.S. federal income tax consequences described in the preceding sentence.

 

Restricted Stock.  Restricted stock may be granted pursuant to the 2008 Plan. A restricted stock award is the grant of shares of common stock at a price determined by the Compensation Committee (including zero), that is nontransferable and may be subject to substantial risk of forfeiture until specific conditions are met. Conditions may be based on continuing employment or achieving performance goals. During the period of restriction, participants holding shares of restricted stock may have full voting and dividend rights with respect to such shares. The restrictions will lapse in accordance with a schedule or other conditions determined by the Compensation Committee.

 

Additional Awards.  The other types of equity awards that may be granted under the 2008 Plan include performance shares, performance stock units, dividend equivalents, deferred stock units, stock appreciation rights and other stock-based awards.

 

Performance bonus awards may also be granted pursuant to the 2008 Plan. Performance bonus awards are cash bonuses payable upon the attainment of pre-established performance goals based on established performance criteria and are intended to be performance-based awards within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Code. The goals are established and evaluated by the Compensation Committee and may relate to performance over any periods as determined by the Compensation Committee. The following is a brief discussion of the requirements for awards, including performance bonus awards, to be treated as performance-based awards within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Code.

 

The Compensation Committee may grant awards to employees who are or may be “covered employees,” as defined in Section 162(m) of the Code, that are intended to be performance-based awards within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Code in order to preserve the deductibility of these awards for federal income tax. Under the 2008 Plan, these performance-based awards may be either equity awards or performance bonus awards. Participants are only entitled to receive payment for a performance-based award for any given performance period to the extent that pre-established performance goals set by the Board for the period are satisfied. These pre-established performance goals must be based on one or more of the following performance criteria:

 

 

 

any of which may be measured with respect to us, or any subsidiary, affiliate or other business unit of ours, either in absolute terms, terms of growth or as compared to any incremental increase, as compared to results of a peer group. The Compensation Committee defines in an objective fashion the manner of calculating the performance criteria it selects to use for such awards. With regard to a particular performance period, the Compensation Committee will have the discretion to select the length of the performance period, the type of performance-based awards to be granted, and the goals that will be used to measure the performance for the period. In determining the actual size of an individual performance-based award for a performance period, the Compensation Committee may reduce or eliminate (but not increase) the initial award. Generally, a participant will have to be employed by or providing services to the company on the date the performance-based award is paid to be eligible for a performance-based award for any period.

 

ADJUSTMENT PROVISIONS

 

Certain transactions with our stockholders not involving our receipt of consideration, such as a stock split, spin-off, stock dividend or certain recapitalizations may affect the share price of our common stock (which transactions are referred to collectively as “equity restructurings”). In the event that an equity restructuring occurs, our Board will equitably adjust the class of shares issuable and the maximum number of shares of our stock subject to the 2008 Plan, and will equitably adjust outstanding awards as to the class, number of shares and price per share of our stock. Other types of transactions may also affect our common stock, such as a dividend or other distribution, reorganization, merger, or other changes in corporate structure. In the event that there is such a transaction, which is not an equity restructuring, and our Board determines that an adjustment to the plan and any outstanding awards would be appropriate to prevent any dilution or enlargement of benefits under the 2008 Plan, our Board will equitably adjust the 2008 Plan as to the class of shares issuable and the maximum number of shares of our stock subject to the 2008 Plan, as well as the maximum number of shares that may be issued to an employee during any calendar year, and will adjust any outstanding awards as to the class, number of shares, and price per share of our stock in such manner as it may deem equitable.

 

EFFECT OF CERTAIN CORPORATE TRANSACTIONS

 

Outstanding awards do not automatically terminate in the event of a change in control. A “change in control” generally means a sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of our assets, a merger or consolidation in which we are not the surviving corporation, or a reverse merger in which we are the surviving corporation but the shares of our stock outstanding immediately preceding the merger are converted by virtue of the merger into other property. In the event of a change in control, any surviving corporation or acquiring corporation must either assume or continue outstanding awards or substitute similar awards. If it does not do so, then with respect to awards held by participants whose service has not terminated, the vesting of such awards (and, if applicable, the time during which such awards may be exercised) will be accelerated in full and all forfeiture restrictions on such awards shall lapse. The unexercised portion of all outstanding awards may terminate upon the change in control. The acceleration of an

award in the event of a change in control may be viewed as an anti-takeover provision, which may have the effect of discouraging a proposal to acquire or otherwise obtain control of us.

 

AMENDMENT AND TERMINATION

 

The Compensation Committee, subject to approval of our Board, may terminate, amend, or modify the 2008 Plan at any time; however, stockholder approval will be obtained for any amendment to the extent necessary and desirable to comply with any applicable law, regulation or stock exchange rule, to increase the number of shares available under the 2008 Plan, to permit the Compensation Committee or our Board to grant options with a price below fair market value on the date of grant, or to extend the exercise period for an option beyond ten years from the date of grant. In addition, absent stockholder approval, no option may be amended to reduce the per share exercise price of the shares subject to such option below the per share exercise price as of the date the option was granted and, except to the extent permitted by the 2008 Plan in connection with certain changes in capital structure, no option may be granted in exchange for, or in connection with, the cancellation or surrender of an option having a higher per share exercise price.

 

In no event may an award be granted pursuant to the 2008 Plan on or after the tenth anniversary of the date the stockholders initially approved the 2008 Plan.

 

FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES

 

With respect to nonqualified stock options, we are generally entitled to deduct and the optionee recognizes taxable income in an amount equal to the difference between the option exercise price and the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise. A participant receiving incentive stock options will not recognize taxable income upon grant. Additionally, if applicable holding period requirements are met, the participant will not recognize taxable income at the time of exercise. However, the excess of the fair market value of the common stock received over the option price is an item of tax preference income potentially subject to the alternative minimum tax. If stock acquired upon exercise of an incentive stock option is held for a minimum of two years from the date of grant and one year from the date of exercise, the gain or loss (in an amount equal to the difference between the fair market value on the date of sale and the exercise price) upon disposition of the stock will be treated as a long-term capital gain or loss, and we will not be entitled to any deduction. If the holding period requirements are not met, the incentive stock option will be treated as one that does not meet the requirements of the Code for incentive stock options and the tax consequences described for nonqualified stock options will apply.

 

The current federal income tax consequences of other awards authorized under the 2008 Plan generally follow certain basic patterns: stock appreciation rights are taxed and deductible in substantially the same manner as nonqualified stock options; nontransferable restricted stock subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture results in income recognition equal to the excess of the fair market value over the price paid, if any, only at the time the restrictions lapse (unless the recipient elects to accelerate recognition as of the date of grant); RSUs, stock-based performance awards, dividend equivalents and other types of awards are generally subject to tax at the time of payment. Compensation otherwise effectively deferred is taxed when paid. In each of the foregoing cases, we will generally have a corresponding deduction at the time the participant recognizes income, subject to Section 162(m) of the Code with respect to covered employees.

 

Section 162(m) of the Code denies a deduction to any publicly held corporation for compensation paid to certain “covered employees” in a taxable year to the extent that compensation to such covered employee exceeds $1 million. It is possible that compensation attributable to awards under the 2008 Plan, when combined with all other types of compensation received by a covered employee from us, may cause this limitation to be exceeded in any particular year.

 

Certain kinds of compensation, including qualified “performance-based compensation,” are disregarded for purposes of the deduction limitation. In accordance with Treasury Regulations issued under Section 162(m), compensation attributable to stock awards will generally qualify as performance-based compensation if (1) the award is granted by a compensation committee composed solely of two or more “outside directors,” (2) the plan contains a per-employee limitation on the number of awards which may be granted during a specified period, (3) the plan is approved by the stockholders, and (4) under the terms of the award, the amount of compensation an

employee could receive is based solely on an increase in the value of the stock after the date of the grant (which requires that the exercise price of the option is not less than the fair market value of the stock on the date of grant), and for awards other than options, established performance criteria that must be met before the award actually will vest or be paid.

 

The 2008 Plan is designed to meet the requirements of Section 162(m); however, full value awards granted under the 2008 Plan will only be treated as qualified performance-based compensation under Section 162(m) if the full value awards and the procedures associated with them comply with all other requirements of Section 162(m). There can be no assurance that compensation attributable to options and full value awards granted under the 2008 Plan will be treated as qualified performance-based compensation under Section 162(m) and thus be deductible to us.

 

The tax consequences for equity awards outside of the U.S. may differ from the U.S. federal income tax consequences described above.

 

NEW PLAN BENEFITS

 

Awards are subject to the discretion of the Compensation Committee. Therefore, it is not possible to determine the benefits that will be received in the future by participants in the 2008 Plan. Under the 2008 Plan, as of March 3, 2009, our Named Executive Officers have received the following equity grants: John J. Donahoe, our President and Chief Executive Officer, has received 383,681 RSUs; Robert H. Swan, our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, has received 255,915 RSUs; Elizabeth L. Axelrod, our Senior Vice President, Human Resources, has received 245,400 RSUs; Lorrie M. Norrington, our President, eBay Marketplaces, has received 77,512 RSUs; and Scott Thompson, our President, PayPal, has received 100,867 RSUs. In addition, under the 2008 Plan, as of March 3, 2009, Margaret C. Whitman, our former President and Chief Executive Officer, has received 22,330 RSUs; and Rajiv Dutta, our former President, eBay Marketplaces, has received 5,362 RSUs. As of March 3, 2009, our executive officers as a group have received 1,091,067 RSUs under the 2008 Plan; our non-employee directors as a group have received options to purchase 91,080 shares and 9,700 RSUs under the 2008 Plan; and our non-executive officer employees as a group have received 26.7 million RSUs under the 2008 Plan.

 

VOTE REQUIRED

 

Adoption of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan requires approval by the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast with respect to the proposal by the shares present in person or represented by proxy, and entitled to vote on the proposal at the Annual Meeting. A “majority of votes cast” means that the number of votes “FOR” the approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan must exceed the number of votes “AGAINST” the approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2008 Plan.

 

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS
A VOTE IN FAVOR OF PROPOSAL 3.

 

We have selected PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, or PwC, as our independent auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2009. We are submitting our selection of independent auditors for ratification by the stockholders at the Annual Meeting. PwC has audited our historical consolidated financial statements for all annual periods since our incorporation in 1996. We expect that representatives of PwC will be present at the Annual Meeting, will have an opportunity to make a statement if they wish, and will be available to respond to appropriate questions.

 

Our Bylaws do not require that the stockholders ratify the selection of PwC as our independent auditors. However, we are submitting the selection of PwC to the stockholders for ratification as a matter of good corporate practice. If the stockholders do not ratify the selection, the Board and the Audit Committee will reconsider whether or not to retain PwC. Even if the selection is ratified, the Board and the Audit Committee, in their discretion, may change the appointment at any time during the year if they determine that such a change would be in the best interests of eBay and our stockholders.

 

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS
A VOTE IN FAVOR OF PROPOSAL 4.

 

During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, fees for services provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, or PwC, were as follows (in thousands):

 

 

“Audit Fees” consist of fees incurred for services rendered for the audit of eBay’s annual financial statements, review of financial statements included in eBay’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, other services normally provided in connection with statutory and regulatory filings, and for attestation services related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. “Audit-Related Fees” consist of fees billed for due diligence procedures in connection with acquisitions and divestitures and consultation regarding financial accounting and reporting matters. We did not incur any “Tax Fees” or “All Other Fees” in the fiscal years ended December 31, 2008 or 2007.

 

The Audit Committee has determined that the non-audit services rendered by PwC were compatible with maintaining their independence. All such non-audit services were pre-approved pursuant to the pre-approval policy set forth below.

 

The Audit Committee has adopted a policy requiring the pre-approval of any non-audit engagement of PwC. In the event that we wish to engage PwC to perform accounting, technical, diligence, or other permitted services not related to the services performed by PwC as our independent registered public accounting firm, our internal finance personnel will prepare a summary of the proposed engagement, detailing the nature of the engagement, the reasons why PwC is the preferred provider of such services, and the estimated duration and cost of the engagement. The report will be provided to our Audit Committee or a designated committee member, who will evaluate whether the proposed engagement will interfere with the independence of PwC in the performance of its auditing services. We disclose all approved non-audit engagements during a quarter in the appropriate quarterly report on Form 10-Q or annual report on Form 10-K.

 

We constitute the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of eBay Inc. The Audit Committee’s responsibility is to provide assistance and guidance to the Board of Directors in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities to eBay’s stockholders with respect to (1) eBay’s corporate accounting and reporting practices, (2) eBay’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) the independent auditors’ qualifications and independence, (4) the performance of eBay’s internal audit function and independent auditors, (5) the quality and integrity of eBay’s financial statements and reports, (6) reviewing and approving all audit engagement fees and terms, as well as all non-audit engagements with the independent auditors, and (7) producing this report. The Audit Committee members are not professional accountants or auditors and these functions are not intended to replace or duplicate the activities of management or the independent auditors. Management has primary responsibility for preparing the financial statements and designing and assessing the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. Management and the internal auditing department are responsible for maintaining appropriate accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and internal controls and procedures that provide for compliance with accounting standards and applicable laws and regulations. PwC, eBay’s independent auditors, are responsible for planning and carrying out an audit of eBay’s financial statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) and eBay’s internal control over financial reporting, expressing an opinion on the conformity of eBay’s audited financial statements with generally accepted accounting principles as well as the effectiveness of eBay’s internal control over financial reporting, reviewing eBay’s quarterly financial statements prior to the filing of each quarterly report on Form 10-Q, and other procedures.

 

During 2008, and earlier in 2009, in connection with the preparation of eBay’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, and in fulfillment of our oversight responsibilities, we did the following, among other things:

 

 

 

¹ The material in this Audit Committee report is not “soliciting material,” is not deemed “filed” with the SEC and is not to be incorporated by reference in any of our filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, whether made before, on or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing.

 

The Audit Committee held 12 meetings in 2008. Throughout the year we conferred with PwC, eBay’s internal audit team, and senior management in separate executive sessions to discuss any matters that the Audit Committee, PwC, the internal audit team, or senior management believed should be discussed privately with the Audit Committee. We have direct and private access to both the internal and external auditors of eBay.

 

The Audit Committee has discussed with PwC the matters required to be discussed by by Statement on Auditing Standards No. 61, as amended (AICPA, Professional Standards, Vol. 1 AU Section 380) as adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in Rule 3200T. The Audit Committee has also received the written disclosures and the letter from PwC required by the applicable Public Company Accounting Oversight Board requirements for independent accountant communications with audit committees concerning auditor independence, and has discussed the independence of PwC with that firm. We have also concluded that PwC’s provision to eBay and its affiliates of the non-audit services reflected under “Audit-Related Fees” above is compatible with PwC’s obligation to remain independent.

 

We have also established procedures for the receipt, retention, and treatment of complaints received by eBay regarding accounting, internal accounting controls, or auditing matters and for the confidential anonymous submission by eBay employees of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters.

 

After reviewing the qualifications of the current members of the committee, and any relationships they may have with eBay that might affect their independence from eBay, the Board determined that each member of the Audit Committee meets the independence requirements of The Nasdaq Stock Market and of Section 10A of the Exchange Act, that each member is able to read and understand fundamental financial statements and that Mr. Anderson qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” under the applicable rules promulgated pursuant to the Exchange Act. The Audit Committee operates under a written charter adopted by the Board of Directors. The Audit Committee Charter, as so amended, is shown on the corporate governance section of eBay’s investor relations website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance. Any future changes in the charter or key practices will also be reflected on the website.

 

Based on our reviews and discussions described above, we recommended to the Board of Directors, and the Board approved, the inclusion of the audited financial statements in eBay’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which eBay filed with the SEC on February 20, 2009. We have also recommended, and the Board has approved, the selection of PwC as our independent auditors for 2009.

 

 

AUDIT COMMITTEE

 

 

Fred D. Anderson, Chair
Dawn G. Lepore
David M. Moffett
Richard T. Schlosberg, III

 

Executive officers are elected annually by the Board and serve at the discretion of the Board. Set forth below is information regarding our executive officers as of March 3, 2009.

 

 

John J. Donahoe’s biography is set forth under the heading “Proposal 1 — Election of Directors — Directors Continuing in Office Until Our 2011 Annual Meeting,” above.

 

Elizabeth L. Axelrod serves eBay as Senior Vice President, Human Resources. She has served in that capacity since March 2005. From May 2002 to March 2005, Ms. Axelrod served as the Chief Talent Officer for WPP Group PLC, a global communications services group where she was also an executive director. Ms. Axelrod was a partner at McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm where she worked from October 1989 to April 2002. Ms. Axelrod holds a B.S.E. degree with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in Public and Private Management (MPPM) from the Yale School of Management. Ms. Axelrod is a co-author of The War for Talent published by Harvard Business School Press in 2001.

 

Mark T. Carges serves eBay as Senior Vice President, Technology. He has served in that capacity since September 2008. From November 2005 to May 2008, Mr. Carges served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Business Interaction Division of BEA Systems, Inc. From August 2004 to November 2005, Mr. Carges served as Chief Technology Officer of BEA Systems, Inc. From January 2003 to August 2004, Mr. Carges served as Executive Vice President, Strategic Global Accounts of BEA Systems, Inc. From February 1996 to December 2002, Mr. Carges served as Vice President, General Manager of various product groups of BEA Systems, Inc. Mr. Carges holds a B.A. degree in Computer Science from University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. degree in Computer Science from New York University.

 

Michael R. Jacobson serves eBay as Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel and Secretary. He has served in that capacity or as Vice President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel since August 1998. From 1986 to August 1998, Mr. Jacobson was a partner with the law firm of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, specializing in securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and other transactions. Mr. Jacobson holds an A.B. degree in Economics from Harvard College and a J.D. degree from Stanford Law School.

 

Alan L. Marks serves eBay as Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications. He has served in that capacity since April 2008. From February 2005 to April 2008, Mr. Marks served as Director, Corporate Media Relations of Nike, Inc. From January 1999 to February 2005, Mr. Marks served as Vice President, Corporate Communications of Gap Inc. Prior to Gap, Mr. Marks was with Avon Products, Inc. for twelve years in a variety of global communication positions. Mr. Marks holds a B.A. degree in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.A. degree in Liberal Studies from New York University.

 

Lorrie M. Norrington serves eBay as President, eBay Marketplaces. She has served in that capacity since July 2008. From January 2008 to July 2008, Ms. Norrington served as head of eBay Marketplaces Operations. From June 2006 to January 2008, Ms. Norrington served as President, eBay International. From June 2005 to June 2006, Ms. Norrington served as President and CEO of Shopping.com, Inc. From August 2001 to March 2005, Ms. Norrington served as executive vice president in the office of the CEO of Intuit Inc., a business and financial management software company. Prior to joining Intuit, from 1982 to July 2001, she served in a variety of positions

at General Electric Corporation, a diversified technology, media and financial services company. Ms. Norrington holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from University of Maryland and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.

 

Robert H. Swan serves eBay as Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. He has served in that capacity since March 2006. From February 2003 to March 2006, Mr. Swan served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Electronic Data Systems Corporation. From July 2001 to December 2002, Mr. Swan was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of TRW Inc. Mr. Swan served in executive positions at Webvan Group, Inc. from 1999 to 2001, including Chief Executive Officer from April 2001 to July 2001, Chief Operating Officer from September 2000 to July 2001, and Chief Financial Officer from October 1999 to July 2001. Mr. Swan holds a B.S. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an M.B.A. from State University of New York at Binghamton.

 

Scott Thompson serves eBay as President, PayPal. He has served in that capacity since January 2008. From February 2005 to January 2008, Mr. Thompson served as PayPal’s Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer. From September 2001 to February 2005, Mr. Thompson served as Executive Vice President of Technology Solutions at Inovant, LLC, a subsidiary of Visa USA. From 1998 to September 2001, Mr. Thompson was Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Technology & Support Services for Visa USA. Mr. Thompson also serves on the board of directors of F5 Networks, Inc. Mr. Thompson holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from Stonehill College.

 

Our compensation programs are designed to align compensation with our business objectives and performance, enabling us to attract, retain, and reward executive officers and other key employees who contribute to our long-term success and motivate executive officers to enhance long-term stockholder value. We also strive to design programs to position eBay competitively among the companies against which we recruit and compete for talent. We recognize that compensation programs must be understandable to be effective and that program administration and decision making must be fair and equitable. We also consider the financial obligations created by our compensation programs and design them to be cost effective. To meet these objectives, the principal components of executive compensation in 2008 consisted of base salary, short-term cash incentive awards, and equity incentive awards. For 2008, the equity incentive awards for most employees were time-based restricted stock units and stock options and for our executive officers were stock options, performance-based restricted stock units, and time-based restricted stock.

 

The Compensation Committee reviews and sets our overall compensation strategy for all employees on an annual basis. In the course of this review, the committee considers our current compensation programs and whether to modify them or introduce new programs or elements of compensation in order to better meet our overall compensation objectives. Our compensation policies are the same for all of our executive officers.

 

As we announced in January 2008, we underwent a significant management change at the beginning of the year and additional changes in the middle of the year. Ms. Whitman resigned as our CEO and President effective March 31, 2008 and was replaced by Mr. Donahoe. References throughout this discussion to our CEO refer to Mr. Donahoe. When Ms. Whitman’s resignation was announced, Mr. Donahoe assumed the role of CEO-designate, Mr. Dutta became President of eBay Marketplaces and Mr. Thompson became the President of PayPal. In July 2008, Mr. Dutta resigned and Ms. Norrington became President of eBay Marketplaces.

 

The Compensation Committee’s decisions regarding executive compensation in 2008 took into account these management changes and reflect the need to provide additional retention for key members of our senior management team. As described below, in 2008 the committee also reviewed some of our long-standing compensation practices and decided to make changes that will become effective in 2009.

 

The Compensation Committee reviews and approves all compensation programs (including equity compensation) applicable to our executive officers and directors, our overall strategy for employee compensation, and the specific compensation of our CEO, other executive officers, our other employees at the level of senior vice president and above, and any vice president whose compensation exceeds approved guidelines for cash or equity compensation. The committee’s review of executive officer compensation includes, but is not limited to, a review of the continued holding power of past equity incentive awards. The committee has the sole authority to select, retain, and terminate special counsel and other experts (including compensation consultants), as the committee deems appropriate. As discussed in more detail below, in 2008, the committee retained a compensation consultant that reported directly to the committee.

 

While the Compensation Committee determines eBay’s overall compensation philosophy and sets the compensation of our CEO and other executive officers, it looks to the executive officers identified below and the compensation consultant retained by the committee to make recommendations to the committee with respect to both overall guidelines and specific compensation decisions. Our CEO also provides the Board and the Compensation Committee with his perspective on the performance of eBay’s executive officers as part of the determination of the individual portion payable under the eBay Incentive Plan (as described below), the annual personnel review and as part of succession planning discussions with the Board as well as a self-assessment of his performance. The committee establishes compensation levels for our CEO in consultation with the compensation consultant it retains, and our CEO is not present during any of these discussions. Our CEO recommends to the committee specific compensation amounts for executive officers other than himself, and the committee considers those recommendations and information provided by its compensation consultant concerning peer group comparisons and industry trends and makes the ultimate compensation decisions. Our CEO, CFO, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs & General Counsel regularly attend the Compensation Committee’s meetings to provide perspectives on the competitive landscape and the needs of the business, information regarding eBay’s performance, and technical advice. Members of the committee also participate in the Board’s annual review of the CEO’s performance and its setting of annual performance goals, in each case led by our lead independent director. See “Our Corporate Governance Practices” above for further details.

 

As discussed above, in 2008 the committee retained Towers Perrin as its compensation consultant to provide advice, its opinion, and resources to help develop and execute our overall compensation strategy. Towers Perrin reports directly to the committee, and the committee has the sole power to terminate or replace Towers Perrin at any time. As part of its engagement, the Compensation Committee has directed Towers Perrin to work with our Senior Vice President of Human Resources and other members of management to obtain information necessary for it to form its recommendations and evaluate management’s recommendations. Towers Perrin also meets with the committee during the committee’s regular meetings and in executive session, where no members of management are present, and with the committee chair and other members of the committee outside of the regular meetings.

 

As part of its engagement in 2008, Towers Perrin evaluated eBay’s peer groups for performance and compensation benchmarking, made recommendations regarding how the peer groups should be changed and how peer groups should be used in setting compensation guidelines, advised the committee on new compensation arrangements for certain of our executive officers in connection with the management changes, assessed compensation for the board of directors, evaluated compensation levels at the peer group companies, and developed the related equity and cash compensation guidelines, which included an analysis of eBay’s performance and that of specified peer groups (see the section entitled “Competitive Considerations” below for a further discussion regarding these peer groups). To facilitate making external compensation comparisons, Towers Perrin provided the Compensation Committee with competitive market data by analyzing proprietary surveys prepared by Towers Perrin, proprietary third-party surveys provided to them by management, and publicly-disclosed documents of companies in specified peer groups. Towers Perrin’s fees for consulting advice to the committee for the year ended December 31, 2008 were approximately $389,000. The committee periodically reviews its relationship with its compensation consultant. In 2008, Towers Perrin did not provide any services to the company other than the compensation consulting services provided to the Compensation Committee. While we may use Towers Perrin for

one-time, discrete projects (separate from the consulting advice provided to the committee) in the future, the committee believes that Towers Perrin is able to provide it with independent advice.

 

To set total compensation guidelines, the Compensation Committee reviews market data of companies with which eBay competes for executive talent, business, and capital. The market data consists of publicly-disclosed data from peer group companies and proprietary third-party survey data, which is only available in an aggregated and unidentifiable format. The committee believes that it is necessary to consider this market data in making compensation decisions in order to attract and retain talent. The committee also recognizes that at the executive level, we compete for talent against larger global companies.

 

As discussed in more detail below in the section entitled “Elements of Compensation/Executive Compensation Practices — Equity Incentive Awards,” historically we also used peer group companies as a benchmark against which to assess eBay’s performance and set equity guidelines. In 2008, the committee reviewed data from two peer groups, which consisted of the following high-technology companies and consumer products companies:

 

 

In deciding whether a company should be included in one of the peer groups, the committee considers the following screening criteria:

 

 

To ensure that these peer groups continue to reflect the markets in which we compete for executive talent, the committee reviews the peer groups annually in the fall for the upcoming year. Before adding or deleting a company from a peer group, the committee considers how the change would impact the comparative market data. For 2008, one company was deleted from, and one company was added to, the high-tech peer group and no changes were made to the consumer products peer group.

Over the course of 2008, the committee (1) reassessed the reasons why we had two separate peer groups, (2) considered whether it would be more appropriate to have a single peer group, and (3) considered how the peer groups should be used in setting compensation guidelines. The committee noted that we no longer looked to companies in the consumer products industry as a source for executive talent and that as our Payments business continued to grow, we were increasingly competing with financial services companies for talent. In considering whether to switch to a single peer group, the committee considered many factors, including confirming that the change would not have materially impacted what we would have paid our executive officers over the past several years. Following this assessment, the committee decided to move to a single peer group for 2009. As discussed in more detail below, the committee also decided that it would no longer set equity guidelines based on eBay’s historical performance relative to its peer group companies. For 2009, the peer group consists of the following companies:

 

 

For 2008, the principal components of executive compensation consisted of base salary, short-term cash incentive awards, and equity incentive awards. The equity incentive awards were stock options, performance-based restricted stock units, and time-based restricted stock units for our executive officers. Our executive officers were also provided certain perquisites and are eligible to participate in our deferred compensation plan, both as described below, and are eligible to participate in our health and benefits plans, retirement savings plans, and our employee stock purchase plan, which are generally available to all of our employees. The following table outlines our objectives for each of the principal components of executive compensation and our target positioning strategy for those components for both 2008 and 2009:

 

 

In addition to the customary equity incentive awards described above, the Compensation Committee was advised by its compensation consultant that, in light of the uncertainty created by the management changes announced at the beginning of 2008, similarly-situated companies often granted retention equity incentive awards to senior executives in addition to their standard annual grants. The committee decided that it would be appropriate to provide retention equity incentive awards to key members of our senior management team.

Although the Compensation Committee has not established a fixed policy for the allocation between cash and equity compensation or short-term and long-term compensation, as described below, the committee has policies for each component of compensation, and as part of its evaluation of the compensation of our executive officers, the committee reviews not only the individual elements of compensation, but also total compensation. In general, compensation of executive officers is weighted towards equity incentives, as the committee wants the senior leadership team to have a long-term perspective on the company’s affairs. This is illustrated by the following chart, which shows how each element of compensation disclosed in the Summary Compensation Table below was weighted for our executive officers named therein (which are referred to as our named executive officers) as a group for 2008:

 

In making decisions regarding elements of compensation for each of our executive officers, the committee takes into account the size and complexity of each executive officer’s job and business unit or function in addition to individual performance. In evaluating these matters in 2008, the committee considered (1) the continued growth of our Payments business compared to our core Marketplaces business, (2) the increasing complexity of our Payments business, (3) changes in responsibilities among our executive officers resulting from the reorganization of our Marketplaces business, and (4) the increased role and responsibilities for our CFO. For executive officers other than the CEO, assessments of individual performance are typically based on performance against financial performance measures for the executive’s business unit or function, organizational development (including development of the senior leadership team of each organization), leadership, and, as applicable, major product introductions, integration of acquisitions and/or strategic partnerships, and achievement of strategic and infrastructure objectives, including control of costs. For our CEO, assessments of individual performance are based on the committee’s subjective assessment of the company’s overall financial performance, development of the company’s leadership team, achievement of strategic objectives, and leadership of the executive team and of the company as a whole.

 

Our executive officers fall into four different job levels, and for 2008, our named executive officers fell into three different job levels. Our CEO is in a higher job level than the rest of the executive team, and the compensation guidelines for his job level are significantly higher than the next highest job level. Because the CEO has overall responsibility for our entire company, his job responsibilities are significantly greater than those of the other executive officers, who are responsible for individual business units or corporate functions. As set forth in the Summary Compensation Table below, Mr. Donahoe’s 2008 total compensation as CEO (even after taking into account equity grants made in connection with his promotion), is lower than Ms. Whitman’s 2007 total compensation as CEO. Except as described in this Compensation Discussion and Analysis, in 2008 the committee did not make any additional compensation-related decisions for any of our named executive officers.

 

Base Salary

 

Base salary is the fixed portion of executive pay and is set to reward individuals’ current contributions to the company and compensate them for their expected day-to-day performance. In 2008, our pay positioning strategy was to target annual base salary and short-term cash incentives of the executive group as a whole at median levels relative to our peer groups in the high-technology and consumer products sectors and general industry third-party survey data. The Compensation Committee then sets a salary range for each executive job level, with the midpoint of the salary range based on the median level of our peer groups, although more weight is given to the high-technology sector than to the consumer product sector. For 2008, eBay’s average actual annual base salary and short-term cash incentive pay position for our named executive officers was within approximately 5% of the median level of our peer group companies and the general industry survey data used. Variances were due to a number of

factors, including the performance of individual members of the executive group, recent promotions, and changes to the cash compensation necessary to retain certain executive officers, as described below.

 

Starting in 2009, our pay positioning strategy is to target annual base salary ranges of the executive group as a whole at the median level relative to our single peer group and general industry third-party survey data. However, in light of the financial uncertainties caused by the global macroeconomic recession and credit crunch, the committee decided to freeze 2009 salaries for executive officers, including our CEO, at 2008 levels (except in a small number of individual cases where adjustments were deemed warranted).

 

The committee meets at least once a year to review and approve each executive officer’s salary for the upcoming year. When reviewing base salaries, the committee considers the pay practices of peer group companies, compensation of executives in similar positions at comparable companies who participate in proprietary third-party surveys, individual performance, levels of responsibility, breadth of knowledge, and prior experience. Of these factors, competitive pay practices are the primary determinant of the range within which individual salaries are set. When the committee set the base salaries for our named executive officers at the beginning of 2008, it took into account the management changes and promotions, and set the base salaries within the applicable ranges. Later in the year, the committee re-evaluated Mr. Swan’s compensation arrangements and decided to increase his salary above the range for his job level to reflect his increased role and responsibilities. See footnote 1 to the Summary Compensation Table below for details regarding the 2008 salaries for each of our named executive officers.

 

Short-term Cash Incentive Awards

 

eBay Incentive Plan (eIP).  The eIP is a cash incentive program designed to align executive compensation with annual performance and to enable eBay to attract, retain, and reward individuals who contribute to eBay’s success and motivate them to enhance the value of eBay. The eIP was approved by our stockholders in 2005. The Compensation Committee believes that incentive payouts should be tightly linked to eBay’s performance, with individual compensation differentiated based on individual performance. As a result, funding and payouts under the eIP are dependent and based on eBay’s performance and individual performance.

 

The committee determines the semi-annual, annual, or other performance period under the eIP. For each performance period, the committee establishes (1) performance measures based on business criteria and target levels of performance and (2) a formula for calculating a participant’s award based on actual performance compared to the pre-established performance goals. Performance measures may be based on a wide variety of business metrics. Management recommends to the committee a proposed approach to setting the performance measures and targets. In 2008, the eIP consisted of only an annual award for employees at the level of senior vice president and above, semi-annual and annual awards for employees at the level of director through vice president, and semi-annual awards for other employees.

 

The following table outlines the performance measures for the 2008 annual award for executive officers and the committee’s rationale for selecting those performance measures:

 

 

 

 

If the minimum revenue and non-GAAP net income thresholds have been met, 75% of the award is based on the company’s performance, and 25% of the award is based on individual performance. During the second half of 2008, the committee added a customer retention metric, which we refer to as a “net promoter score,” for certain employees at the level of vice president and above (which includes all executive officers). Twenty percent of the company performance component of the annual incentive for 2008 was subject to the net promoter score metric. If the target for the net promoter score metric was not met, then the individual would lose up to 20% of the amount he or she would have otherwise received for the company performance component under the eIP. If the target was met, the individual would receive what he or she would have otherwise received under the eIP (and would not receive any additional pay out as a result of the achievement of the net promoter score metric).

 

The amount by which the eIP is funded is determined based on the company’s actual performance measured against the targets set by the committee. The committee sets the annual target in the first quarter. Unless both the minimum revenue and non-GAAP net income thresholds for the year are met, there is no payout for that year. After the end of the year, the company’s actual performance is compared to the targets to determine the funding level, and our CEO presents the committee with his assessment of the performance of each of the other executive officers; the committee reviews his assessments and determines the level of performance for each of those executive officers. In addition, the committee reviews (with input from the lead independent director and other members of the Board) and determines the CEO’s level of performance against targets set by the Board at the beginning of the year.

 

The following table sets forth the annual 2008 performance measures set by the committee:

 

 

In 2008, the maximum incentive amount that could be paid was 200% of target. In 2008, total annual target incentive amounts for the named executive officers (other than the CEO) were 65% to 100% of base salary, and the target incentive amount for the CEO was 125% of base salary. Based on eBay’s annual performance, there was no payout for our executive officers under the eIP for 2008.

 

Special Retention Bonus Plans.  Messrs. Donahoe and Swan each have special retention bonus plans that were entered into in connection with their hiring in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The Compensation Committee believed that it was necessary to enter into these special bonus plans to provide each of Messrs. Donahoe and Swan with a total compensation package that would be attractive to them and cause them to join eBay, in each case with particular reference to the compensation he had been receiving at his previous position. Under the terms of Mr. Donahoe’s plan, he received a special retention bonus of $2,000,000 in cash, of which $500,000 was paid in each of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Under the terms of Mr. Swan’s plan, he is eligible to receive a special retention bonus of up to $1,000,000 in cash, of which $200,000 was paid in each of 2006, 2007, and 2008. The plan provides that Mr. Swan will receive two additional bonus payments of $200,000, payable on each of the third and fourth anniversaries of the date of his commencement of employment, assuming his continued employment with eBay. The amounts paid to Messrs. Donahoe and Swan under these bonus plans were in addition to their base salaries.

 

Equity Incentive Awards

 

Consistent with our past practice, for 2008 we granted our executive officers focal equity incentive awards in the form of stock options and performance-based restricted stock units to align their incentives with the long-term interests of our stockholders, reward them for potential long-term contributions, and provide a total compensation opportunity commensurate with our performance. In addition, as described below, in light of the uncertainty created by the management changes announced at the beginning of 2008, we granted our executive officers retention equity incentive awards consisting of time-based restricted stock units.

 

Our historical pay positioning strategy for equity compensation (other than for performance-based restricted stock units, which is discussed below) varied based on our performance. In setting annual equity award guidelines for stock options and time-based restricted stock units, the committee considered eBay’s total stockholder return, revenue growth, and net income growth over trailing four-quarter and three-year periods relative to its peer groups of high-technology companies and consumer products companies. The committee also considered data regarding

equity guidelines for comparable high-technology companies that were included in proprietary third-party surveys. From these surveys, the committee could determine how eBay’s equity award guidelines would likely compare against companies in the high-technology peer group. If eBay’s performance compared to its peer group companies was average, the midpoints of the equity award guidelines for the subsequent year were targeted to be positioned at the 50th percentile of the guidelines for comparable high-technology companies included in the surveys. If eBay’s performance compared to its peer group companies was high, midpoints of the equity award guidelines could be positioned as high as the 75th percentile. If eBay’s performance compared to its peer group companies was low, midpoints of the equity award guidelines could be positioned as low as the 25th percentile. Once the midpoints of the equity award guidelines were set, ranges around the midpoints were established to allow for differentiation of awards by individual. Individual awards could therefore be higher or lower than the pay positioning guidelines. Given eBay’s performance in 2007 (based on trailing four-quarter and three-year periods), the committee decided to position the midpoints of the equity award guidelines for 2008 at approximately the 65th percentile of the guidelines for comparable high-technology companies included in the surveys. Our pay positioning strategy for performance-based restricted stock units was to target awards at the 50th percentile relative to comparable high-technology companies included in the surveys. Because the amount of restricted stock awarded under the performance-based restricted stock plan is granted based on company performance (as described in more detail below), the committee decided that it was not necessary to adjust these guidelines based on historical company performance.

 

Beginning in 2009, the committee decided to stop setting equity award guidelines based eBay’s performance compared to its peer group companies and instead set equity award guidelines based on equity compensation practices at companies in our peer group (which, as discussed above, has been changed to a single peer group for 2009), data regarding equity guidelines for comparable high technology companies that are included in proprietary third-party surveys, and an assessment of dilution issues. The committee made this decision in order to (1) prevent unacceptable levels of dilution if eBay’s performance was high compared to its peers, (2) deliver competitive grant levels, (3) simplify the process and minimize year-over-year variability, (4) focus on the external competitive market, and (5) make eBay’s practices more in line with market practices.

 

The equity incentive guideline positioning is subject to a maximum gross dilution rate, including grants to existing employees and grants associated with anticipated growth in eBay’s employee base. Historically, the committee considered trends in the high-technology industry and dilution rates of companies in the high-technology peer group in setting the maximum dilution rate. Beginning in 2009, the committee will consider dilution rates of companies in our single peer group. In addition to following the guidelines described above, the company cannot grant awards in excess of the maximum dilution target without the committee’s approval. The committee may also make special compensation-related decisions for performance, recognition, long-term retention value, and/or recruitment purposes that cause individual compensation to differ from the regular stated compensation strategy and guidelines.

 

New Hire Equity Incentive Grants and Focal Grants.  New hire equity incentive grants for specific individuals also take into account specific recruitment needs. Following the new hire grant, additional grants are made to participants pursuant to a periodic focal grant program or following a significant change in job responsibilities, scope, or title. See the section entitled “Equity Compensation Grant Practices” below for a description of our equity grant practices. Focal grants are based upon a number of factors, including performance of the individual, job level, future potential contributions to eBay, competitive external levels of equity incentives, and the retention value associated with each individual’s unvested equity. Vested equity held by the employee is generally not a factor in the Compensation Committee’s consideration of equity grants.

 

The value of equity incentive awards granted pursuant to our focal program are determined within ranges established for each job level that are reviewed and approved by the committee on at least an annual basis. These job level ranges are established based on our desired pay positioning relative to the competitive market, with our CEO and Senior Vice President of Human Resources and the committee’s compensation consultant involved in the process of recommending the job level ranges to the committee for approval. For both new hire and focal grants, the committee approves the final value of equity incentive awards for those employees who are at the level of senior vice president and above.

Allocation between Stock Options and Performance-Based Restricted Stock Units.  The process and methodology for determining the value of awards for executives are generally the same as those used for our other employees. Once the value of the focal equity incentive awards has been set for each executive officer, a formula is used to allocate a portion of the value of the focal award to stock options and a portion of the focal award to performance-based restricted stock units. For employees below the level of senior vice president, the formula allocates the award between stock options and time-vested restricted stock units. For 2008, the committee set a 24-month performance period for performance-based restricted stock awards, which provides an incentive over a longer time period than the annual eIP program. For 2008, the committee determined that for executive officers, stock options would constitute 70%, and the 24-month performance based restricted stock unit awards would constitute the remaining 30%, of the value of the focal equity awards (determined with reference to Black-Scholes valuation of options and target grant size for the performance-based restricted stock units).

 

Promotional Equity Incentive Grants.  We generally use a formulaic approach to set the amount of promotional equity incentive grants. The value of the promotional grant is the difference between the value of the employee’s most recent equity incentive grant and the value of an award at the midpoint of the guidelines for a new hire equity incentive grant at the higher job level. For our executive officers, the committee considers what the value of the promotional grant would be based on the formula described above, and then determines the final value of (and the equity vehicles to be used for) the promotional grant based on a number of factors, including (1) the reason for the promotion, (2) the executive officer’s prior history of equity incentive awards, and (3) the advice of the committee’s compensation consultant.

 

2008 Retention Grants of Restricted Stock Units.  In addition to the focal equity incentive awards described above, the Compensation Committee was advised by its compensation consultant that many companies granted retention equity awards to senior executives in addition to their standard equity grants during times of uncertainty caused by significant changes to senior management. In January 2008, the committee approved an executive “go forward” plan to grant one-time awards of time-based restricted stock units to key members of our senior management team critical to eBay’s future. In light of the promotion of Mr. Donahoe to the position of CEO, the related changes to the heads of our Marketplaces and PayPal business units, and the related business “turnaround” that Mr. Donahoe was charged with effecting, the committee decided that it was necessary to provide additional equity grants for retention and incentive purposes to key members of our senior management team. Ms. Axelrod, Mr. Swan, Ms. Norrington, and Mr. Thompson were all granted awards under this plan. The committee made its decisions regarding these one-time awards and the annual focal equity awards at the same time.

 

At the same time the Compensation Committee made changes to other aspects of Mr. Swan’s compensation arrangements, the committee decided to award him an additional equity grant consisting of stock options and time-based restricted stock units outside the focal program. The committee believed that it was necessary to grant Mr. Swan these awards to provide an appropriate retention incentive in light of the increased role and responsibilities assumed by him.

 

Performance-Based Restricted Stock Units.  Executive officers are eligible to receive awards of performance-based restricted stock units if the company meets specified performance criteria set by the committee. If the performance criteria are satisfied, the performance-based restricted stock units are granted and vest with respect to one-half of the award in March following the end of the performance period and vest with respect to the remainder of the award in March of the following year. If any of the performance criteria are not satisfied, no awards are granted for the relevant performance period.

The following table outlines the performance periods and performance measures set in 2007 (that relate to 2008 compensation) and 2008 and the committee’s rationale for selecting those performance measures:

 

 

 

 

Once the minimum threshold for non-GAAP operating margin and revenue growth is reached, each of these performance measures is calculated independently, with minimum performance equal to 25%, target 50%, and maximum 100%. The two measures are then added together and this total (modified by the return on invested capital measure, as described below) becomes a multiplier against the target award to determine the actual number of shares awarded. The return on invested capital measure can modify the final awards from 80% to 120% of what they would otherwise be.

 

The following table sets forth the performance measures for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 performance periods as set by the committee. The 2007-2008 performance measures were set in the first quarter of 2007 and the 2008-2009 performance measures were set in 2008. While the committee typically sets the performances measures during the timeframe required to take advantage of tax deductions afforded by Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, at the request of our CEO and in light of changes to the executive management team in 2008 and to ensure that the business “turnaround” strategy that Mr. Donahoe would be effecting would be properly reflected in the financial targets, the committee made an exception in 2008 and delayed the approval of the financial targets for the 2008-2009 24-month performance period until the middle of 2008. In doing so, the committee decided that providing our CEO with more time to make his recommendation regarding the performance measures was more desirable than preserving the ability to take advantage of the Section 162(m) tax deductions.

 

 

In 2008, performance-based restricted stock unit awards could range from 0% to 240% of an executive officer’s target award, based on eBay’s financial performance for the year.

The committee specifically considered whether the charge in the fourth quarter of 2008 related to eBay’s 2008 organization simplification should be applied to the determination of whether the company had met the non-GAAP operating margin targets for the year under both the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 performance periods. Based upon (1) advice from the committee’s compensation consultant that companies generally do not take one-time costs or benefits into account when determining achievement of goals for bonus plans and (2) the company’s past history of not including significant one-time accounting gains or losses on the write-down or sale of equity investments, the committee determined that it would not apply the charge to the determination of whether the non-GAAP operating margin targets had been met for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 performance periods.

 

Deferred Compensation Plan

 

Under the terms of our deferred compensation plan, eligible members of senior management may defer receipt of their compensation, including up to 50% of their salaries, up to 100% of their bonuses, and, to the extent permitted by the committee, up to 100% of their restricted stock units and performance-based restricted stock units. To date, the committee has not allowed participants to defer their time-based restricted stock units or performance-based restricted stock units. The company may, but has no obligation to, make discretionary contributions on behalf of a participant in the plan, in such form and amount as the company deems appropriate (in its sole discretion). To date, the company has not made any contributions to the plan on behalf of any named executive officer. For 2008, Messrs. Donahoe and Swan elected to participate in the plan and defer a portion of their 2008 bonuses under the eIP. However, because there was no payout for any of our executive officers under the eIP for 2008, neither Mr. Donahoe nor Mr. Swan made any contributions to the plan.

 

Perquisites

 

We provide certain executive officers with perquisites and other personal benefits that the Compensation Committee believes are reasonable and consistent with our overall compensation programs and philosophy. These benefits are provided in order to enable us to attract and retain these executives. The committee periodically reviews the levels of these benefits provided to our executive officers. Of these benefits, the most significant is allowing certain executive officers to use the corporate airplane for personal use. As set forth in the Summary Compensation Table below, in 2008 the value of all perquisites provided to all seven of our named executive officers other than the use of the corporate airplane for personal use totaled less than $70,000 in the aggregate. In the first quarter of 2008, the committee set limits for the use the corporate airplane for personal use in 2008 as follows: Mr. Donahoe, 50 hours (plus usage in connection with travel to board meetings for one entity where Mr. Donahoe serves as an outside board member); Mr. Dutta, 40 hours; and Mr. Swan, 20 hours. After Ms. Whitman stepped down as CEO, she was no longer entitled to use the corporate airplane for personal use unless she reimbursed us for at least the costs we incurred in connection with such use. See the discussion under the section entitled “Certain Transactions with Directors and Officers” above for further details regarding our agreement with Ms. Whitman regarding these costs. We do not grant bonuses to cover, reimburse, or otherwise “gross up” any income tax owed for personal travel on the corporate airplane.

 

We do not have any program, plan, or practice to select equity compensation (including stock option) grant dates in coordination with the release of material non-public information, nor do we time the release of information for the purpose of affecting value. We do not backdate options or grant options retroactively. For all stock options granted after January 1, 2006, employees have seven years from the date of the grant to exercise vested options, assuming they remain an employee of or service provider to an eBay company and subject to any requirements of local law.

 

New Hire Grants.  New hire grants of equity compensation are made to eligible employees in connection with the commencement of employment. The company has maintained a rules-based approach to new hire option grants since inception. From January 2004 to July 2006, grants were made on the Friday of the first week of employment for employees whose first day of employment was the first business day of the week and the following Friday if the employee started on a different day. Beginning in June 2005, grants of options to purchase 100,000 shares or more

(which we refer to as sizeable new hire grants) were split into two tranches, with the first tranche granted on the Friday following the employee’s first full week of employment and the second tranche granted on the date 26 weeks from the date of the first grant. In July 2006, we changed our grant practices to provide that new hire options are granted on the second Friday of the month following the month in which employment commences. In all cases, the options are priced at the closing price of the company’s stock on the date of grant. These grants generally become fully vested after four years, with 1/4th of the grant vesting on the first anniversary of the date of commencement of employment and 1/48th of the grant vesting monthly thereafter. Sizeable new hire grants are made in two equal tranches, with the first grant made and priced as described above and the second grant made and priced at the closing market price on the date 26 weeks from the date of the first grant. Both tranches vest with respect to 1/4th of the shares on the first anniversary of the date of commencement of employment and 1/48th of the shares vesting monthly thereafter.

 

Grants of new hire time-based restricted stock units are granted on the second Friday of the month following the month in which employment commences. These grants generally become vested after four years, with 1/4th of the grant vesting on each anniversary of the grant date, assuming that the recipient remains an employee of or service provider to an eBay company and subject to any requirements of local law.

 

Focal and Promotional Grants.  Focal stock option grants are awarded on March 1 of each year (or, if March 1 is not a trading day, the next trading day with vesting effective as of March 1) and are priced at the closing market price on the date of the grant. Focal grants of time-based restricted stock units are granted at the same time as focal stock option grants. We selected the March 1 date to allow eBay to close its financial statements for the prior year, announce earnings for the prior year, and finalize the performance ratings of employees prior to the determination of the awards. In addition, we cluster our promotions semiannually to coincide with our focal grant date and September 1 (or, if September 1 is not a trading day, the next trading day with vesting effective as of September 1) and most promotional grants are therefore made on those two dates. Focal and promotional stock option grants generally become fully vested after four years, with 1/8th of the grant vesting six months after the date of the grant and 1/48th of the grant vesting monthly thereafter. Focal stock option grants awarded to executives are priced and granted to executives on the same date and at the same price that they are priced and granted to the rest of our employees and have the same four-year vesting schedule.

 

Focal and promotional grants of time-based restricted stock units generally become fully vested after four years, with 1/4th of the grant vesting on March 1 or September 1, as applicable, assuming they remain an employee of or service provider to an eBay company and subject to any requirements of local law.

 

As discussed above, in January 2008 the Compensation Committee approved grants of retention equity awards (consisting of time-based restricted stock units) to certain of our key employees, including certain of our executive officers. These awards will become fully vested after three years, with 1/3 of the grant vesting annually on each of March 1, 2009, March 1, 2010, and March 1, 2011. The committee decided to have these awards granted on the same date as the focal grants in March 2008. Two of our executive officers did not receive grants in March 2008 in order to ensure that the company would have an adequate number of shares available under its equity incentive plans to make all of the company’s ordinary course equity grants prior to the approval of our 2008 Equity Incentive Award Plan at the 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. After the 2008 Equity Incentive Award Plan was approved by stockholders in June 2008, the committee decided to grant each of these executive officers retention awards as part of the plan approved in January 2008. These executives received their grants on the same date the regularly scheduled September grants were made, and the vesting of these grants was the same as those granted in March 2008.

 

In connection with becoming President and CEO and President of eBay Marketplaces, respectively, the compensation arrangements for Messrs. Donahoe and Dutta were modified to include severance arrangements. In addition, in July 2008 (at the same time the other changes to Mr. Swan’s compensation described above were made), Mr. Swan’s compensation arrangements were modified to include severance arrangements. Under these arrangements, each is entitled to receive a cash payment equal to two years’ target cash compensation (which is defined as

annual base salary plus target annual incentive bonus) if he is terminated within two years of his promotion (or in the case of Mr. Swan, within two years of July 16, 2008), one and one-half years’ target cash compensation if he is terminated more than two but within three years of his promotion (or in the case of Mr. Swan, more than two but within three years of July 16, 2008), and one year’s target cash compensation he is terminated more than three years after his promotion (or in the case of Mr. Swan, more than three years after July 16, 2008). Mr. Dutta’s severance provision was not triggered when he resigned.

 

Ms. Whitman became a special advisor to Mr. Donahoe following her resignation as CEO and continued in this role through December 31, 2008. After she ceased to be an employee, Ms. Whitman continues to have the use of office space and IT and secretarial services through 2011. We estimate that providing these benefits to Ms. Whitman will result in an incremental cost to eBay of less than $250,000 per year.

 

In September 2004, the Board adopted stock ownership guidelines to better align the interests of eBay’s executives with the interests of stockholders and further promote eBay’s commitment to sound corporate governance. Under the guidelines, executive officers are required to achieve ownership of eBay common stock valued at three times their annual base salary (five times in the case of the CEO). The guidelines provide that the required ownership level for each executive officer is recalculated whenever an executive officer changes pay grade and as of January 1 of every third year. Until an executive achieves the required level of ownership, he or she is required to retain 25% of the after-tax net shares received as the result of the exercise of eBay stock options or the vesting of restricted stock or restricted stock units. A more detailed summary of the stock ownership guidelines can be found on our website at http://investor.ebay.com/governance. The ownership levels of our executive officers as of March 3, 2009 are set forth in the section entitled “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” above. We also have an insider trading policy that, among other things, prohibits employees from trading any instrument that relates to the future price of our stock.

 

We are limited by Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to a deduction for federal income tax purposes of up to $1,000,000 of compensation paid to our CEO and any of our three most highly compensated executive officers, other than our Chief Financial Officer, in a taxable year. Compensation above $1,000,000 may be deducted if, by meeting certain technical requirements, it can be classified as “performance-based compensation.” The eIP was approved by stockholders in 2005 and provides for the payment of “performance-based compensation” under Section 162(m). The 1999 Global Equity Incentive Plan was amended to permit certain grants of awards thereunder to qualify as “performance-based compensation” in 2004 and 2007 and such amendments were approved by our stockholders. Although the Compensation Committee uses the requirements of Section 162(m) as a guideline, deductibility is not the sole factor it considers in assessing the appropriate levels and types of executive compensation and it will elect to forego deductibility when the committee believes it to be in the best interests of the company and its stockholders.

 

In addition to considering the tax consequences, the committee considers the accounting consequences of, including the impact of the Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 123(R), its decisions in determining the forms of different awards and generally attempts to keep the value of awards equivalent regardless of type.

 

In evaluating the individual components of overall compensation for each of our executive officers, the Compensation Committee reviews not only the individual elements of compensation, but also total compensation. Through the compensation programs described above, a significant portion of the compensation awarded to our executive officers is contingent upon individual and eBay performance. The committee remains committed to this philosophy of pay-for-performance and will continue to review executive compensation programs to ensure that the interests of our stockholders are served.

 

The Compensation Committee reviews and approves eBay’s compensation programs on behalf of the Board. In fulfilling its oversight responsibilities, the committee reviewed and discussed with management the Compensation Discussion and Analysis set forth in this proxy statement. Based upon the review and discussions referred to above, the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this proxy statement.

 

 

COMPENSATION COMMITTEE

 

 

Edward W. Barnholt (Chairman)
Philippe Bourguignon
William C. Ford, Jr.*
Thomas J. Tierney

 

 

 

 

² The material in this Compensation Committee report is not “soliciting material,” is not deemed “filed” with the SEC and is not to be incorporated by reference in any of our filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, whether made before, on or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing.

 

The following table summarizes the total compensation earned by each of our named executive officers for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006. We do not have individual long-term employment arrangements with any of our named executive officers. In setting the individual components of compensation for each of our named executive officers, the Compensation Committee reviews not only the individual elements of compensation, but also total compensation, including the value of equity compensation.