EBay Says Marketplaces President Norrington Departing
EBay Inc. said Lorrie Norrington, the president of its main Marketplaces business, is leaving for personal reasons and that it’s looking outside the company for a successor.
Third-quarter results will be at the high end of forecasts issued in July, EBay also said in a statement. At the time, the company projected sales of $2.13 billion to $2.18 billion and earnings excluding some costs of 35 cents to 37 cents a share.
Norrington was in charge of EBay’s Marketplaces, which makes up more than half the company’s sales, since July 2008. Her departure leaves a hole in efforts by Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe to fend off a threat from Amazon.com Inc. and reverse a sales-growth slowdown.
“This is a part of the company that’s under a fair amount of pressure,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners LP, who has a “hold” rating on EBay and doesn’t own the stock. “The right steps are being taken, but they are being taken slowly. A change in leadership is not likely to be disastrous.”
Under Norrington, EBay transitioned away from auction sales, which are losing popularity, and focused more on fixed- priced listings, an area dominated by market leader Amazon.
Her results were mixed. While the value of goods sold through EBay rose 9.6 percent to $14.7 billion in the last year, the number of visitors to EBay sites barely budged. The tally dropped 1.8 percent to 69.6 million in July from 70.9 million two years earlier, according to data tracker ComScore Inc.
Defending Sellers
Norrington developed a reputation for defending small sellers, many of whom disliked changes implemented by EBay, said Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor Corp., which helps merchants sell online. She also played a key role in dealing with EBay’s website crash during last year’s holiday shopping season.
The company may look for a successor from retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Wingo said. The company also needs an expert in marketing who can help EBay overcome criticism that it’s not responsive to buyers, Wingo said. Internal candidates include Dinesh Lathi, vice president of seller and buyer experience, Wingo said.
EBay declined to comment further about the search.
“It’s never good when you have a top executive leave,” Wingo said. “They should look internally because it’s a hard business to learn. I can’t envision an external candidate coming in and running things.”
Baby Blue Mustang
Norrington was also an avid buyer and seller on EBay. This year, she bought a 1964 baby blue Mustang on EBay using her mobile phone, she said in an interview this month.
Before EBay, Norrington worked at Intuit Inc. as an executive vice president and held various managerial positions at General Electric Co. She departs March 3 and will get a severance payment of $695,000, the company said. She is also due to receive other benefits.
“Lorrie has led EBay Marketplaces through significant fundamental change as we drive a multiyear turnaround strategy,” Donahoe said in the statement. “For personal family reasons, Lorrie made a decision to do what’s best for EBay and for her family.”
EBay rose less than 1 percent to $24.90 in extended trading. Earlier, the shares gained 9 cents to $24.74 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
To contact the reporters on this story: Joseph Galante in San Francisco at jgalante3@bloomberg.net; Douglas MacMillan in New York at dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
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