The company also announced a standstill agreement with investor Carl Icahn, the company's largest active shareholder. In addition to certain corporate governance provisions to be adopted by PayPal as an independent company, the agreement appoints Icahn Capital executive Jonathan Christodoro to eBay's board of directors. He may move to PayPal at the time of the company's spin-off. Wall Street executives Frank Yeary and Perry Traquina were also named to eBay's board.
The changes came alongside fourth-quarter results showing eBay's revenues up 9 percent to USD 4.92 billion, and net profit up 10 percent to USD 936 million. EPS increased 15 percent to USD 0.75, helped by the ongoing share buyback. In January, eBay approved another USD 2 billion to be spent on repurchasing shares.
The Q4 growth came mainly from PayPal, where revenues grew 18 percent to USD 2.16 billion. The Marketplaces division grew just 1 percent to USD 2.33 billion, and Enterprise sales rose 9 percent to USD 443 million. The company highlighted the growing role of mobile in its business. Mobile payment volume grew 58 percent in the fourth quarter to USD 45.6 billion for the full year, representing 20 percent of total volume. Mobile commerce volume grew 30 percent in the fourth quarter to USD 27.9 billion for the full year representing 34 percent of total volume.
For 2015, eBay forecast revenues of USD 18.6-19.1 billion, up from USD 17.9 billion in 2014. EPS is expected to reach USD 3.05-3.15, versus a loss of USD 0.03 last year when it booked one-time tax charges. The outlook includes an estimated USD 350-400 million separation and restructuring costs.
