Meg Whitman Reportedly Plans To Retire From eBayMeg Whitman Reportedly Plans To Retire From eBay

With nearly 10 years at the helm of eBay, chief executive Meg Whitman is planning to retire, according to a report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.

Whitman, 51, led the auction firm to its rank at the top of the online auction sites, but the company's all important bellwether -- its stock price -- has dropped in recent years and the company is still struggling to integrate its Skype VoIP unit into its infrastructure.

The newspaper said Whitman's handpicked successor, John Donahoe, is likely to take over the top job at eBay. Donahoe, who previously worked for Whitman at consultancy Bain & Co., is president of eBay Marketplaces. Donahoe joined eBay in 2005; at Bain, he rose to become the consulting firm's worldwide managing director.

Whitman jointed eBay a decade ago when it was still a funky startup with less than three dozen employees. The company now has 15,000 employees. Before eBay, she had been general manager of Hasbro's preschool division, where she ran that company's Mr. Potato Head and Playskool brands. Whitman had been a VP at Bain's San Francisco office.

Calls to eBay seeking comment on her reported retirement were not immediately returned. The company will report its fourth-quarter earnings statement Wednesday, giving eBay a forum also to announce management changes. EBay's stock price hit $57 in December 2004; it was trading at $27 in early trading Tuesday.

If Whitman has been good for eBay, eBay has likewise been good for Whitman: Forbes Magazine recently estimated her net worth at $1.4 billion.

While eBay dominates the online auction universe, it made a major miscue by paying too much for VoIP provider Skype Technologies; eBay took a $1.4 billion charge for the Skype business last October. Skype remains the VoIP leader in users, but the operation hasn't produced the kind of benefits and profits for which eBay had hoped.