Marc Andreessen, a prominent venture capitalist and established Silicon Valley entrepreneur, announced his resignation from
The Andreessen Horowitz partner, who served on the board for six years, had become involved in public battles with activist investor and billionaire Carl Icahn, who pushed for the PayPal split. Andreessen and other board members opposed the spin off, which was officially confirmed last month.
"After 6 years of service + completed decision to split, I've decided now is a good time to step off the eBay Board of Directors," he wrote on Twitter. "It's been an absolute privilege to serve with John [Donahoe], Pierre [Omidyar], and team, and I could not be more proud of what we've accomplished."
3/I wish eBay, and both of its successor companies, all the best in the years to come & will seek to continue to help as much as I can.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) October 20, 2014
In his push to break off PayPal, Icahn often made Andreessen the focus of personal attacks, accusing the venture capitalist of putting his own interests in front of what was best for shareholders. Icahn detailed many of those gripes in an open letter published on his website in February that detailed alleged conflicts of interest in eBay's 2009 sale of Skype to a group of private investors, which included Andreessen's own firm. The Wall Street agitator also claimed that Andreessen, who was privy to private company information as a board member, had invested in "direct competitors" of eBay by backing several payments and e-commerce companies.
"How can Mr. Andreessen be trusted to objectively advise [eBay CEO] Donahoe and the eBay Board about the strategic direction of PayPal when he has vested interest in so many of its competitors?" Icahn wrote at the time. Andreessen countered by saying that he had always been transparent with the board and recused himself from the Skype discussions around the time of the sale.
Not one to stay quiet, Andreessen has also had his fair share of words for Icahn, calling him "an evil Captain Kirk" on CNBC earlier this month.
"All the crazy bomb-throwing and all the inflammatory statements and all that stuff is just a complete sideshow," said Andreessen. "If that's how [Icahn] wants to do business, he can. But it doesn't actually contribute to building a company."
Icahn counted a day later on the same television channel, stating that "Andreessen has screwed more people than Casanova" and that he "talks with a squeaky voice that only a dog can understand." Part of that diatribe is now part of Andreessen's online Twitter bio.
In September, eBay announced it would spin off PayPal from its marketplace business following months of agitation from Icahn, who argued that PayPal could find more value as an independent company. That split is expected to happen in the second half of next year.
