Deals
EBay’s Donahoe Dined With Icahn to Spur Thaw Before Deal
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The thaw between EBay Inc. and investor Carl Icahn began a month ago over dinner at the activist’s New York City apartment.
EBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe dined there with Icahn and two other colleagues, and discussed the investor’s proposal to split off the e-commerce company’s PayPal payments unit. Last week, the conversation gathered steam when JPMorgan Chase & Co. Vice Chairman Jimmy Lee got involved and urged both men to talk again. That prompted a flurry of calls over the weekend, leading to Donahoe and Icahn hammering out a compromise.