Over the past ten years, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)'s CEO, Meg Whitman, has had a love / hate relationship with eBay users. No matter what your personal thoughts are regarding Whitman, you have to give it to her; she did take eBay to levels no one would have dreamed possible just ten years ago.

Well, her tenure at eBay is coming to an end, and her next move is into politics, working high up in Senator John McCain's Presidential campaign.

Back in January, Whitman announced that she would be stepping down from eBay to pursue philanthropy and politics, and her first big step is going to be serving as co-chair of Senator McCain's national presidential campaign.

While we still have not reached the point of McCain being announced the official Republican candidate for the upcoming election, it is all but a forgone conclusion that McCain is going to be the Republican's choice for November's pivotal election in America. After a rocky eight years with George Bush running the show, the Republicans are definitely going to have their hands full with this year's election, and Whitman is coming on board to have a leading role in the campaign's financing and policy development.

When we took a look at eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)'s fourth-quarter earnings last night, we also made note that long-time CEO Meg Whitman would be stepping down, to be replaced by John Donahoe. We wondered what changes Mr. Donahoe would be bringing to his new position, and some of those answers have come quicker than we expected, as Donahoe has already announced a few changes that we can expect to see.

One thing consistently on the mind of eBay users is the website's fee structures. Since last year, users have been openly voicing their disappointment with what they consider to be abnormally high selling fees, and it seems like Donahoe will quickly look to address these concerns.

Donahoe said that within a few weeks, we will be seeing a brand new fee structure from eBay. In response to what users are demanding, eBay is planning to lower its upfront listing fees, but at the same time will be raising final selling fees. These final fees are only paid once an item has been successfully sold, and I am sure that users will not like to hear this too much, but they should be happy to hear that the initial listing fees are going to be reduced.

Shares of e-commerce giant eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) are trading around 7% lower in after hours trading today following its fourth quarter earnings release shortly after the market close.

As I looked at in my earnings preview, the company has been struggling to keep up with the competition in its auction business. Two key components that have hurt eBay's auction business are (1) raising fees that have left some of the company's long term users looking for other venues to do their business, and (2) large number of fraudulent items on the site.

The company announced that its fourth quarter numbers were actually better than Wall Street had expected, with earnings per share of 45 cents per share, easily topping the 41 cents that analysts had been expecting to see.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is recently trading at $26.55 in pre-open trading, below its close of $28.33. EBAY is expected to report EPS of 41 cents on February 23, according to Thomson First Call. The Wall Street Journal reported CEO Meg Whitman plans to retire, according to sources. Thomas Weisel says, "All eyes on the 2008 pricing structure." EBAY February option implied volatility of 58 is above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Australian resources firm BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) is unlikely to up its $99.22B bid to acquire mining company Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RTP), according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Ten years after taking the reins at eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY), CEO Meg Whitman is making plans to retire, reported the Wall Street Journal. Company president John Donahoe is the leading candidate to replace her.
• According to the Financial Times, Biogen Idec Incorporated (NASDAQ: BIIB) CEO Jim Mullen said the company could make a "large-scale acquisition" this year after it failed to sell itself.

WEB SITES:

• Finance companies including Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) could sell proprietary investments in India as they struggle to shore up their capital after suffering losses in the subprime sector in the U.S., LiveMint.com reported.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting [subscription required] that eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman could be preparing to retire, possibly within the next few weeks.

John Donahoe, who has been president of eBay's auction business since 2005, is sought to be the most likely candidate to succeed Ms. Whitman, who has been CEO for nearly 10 years.

Overall, Ms. Whitman has done an admirable job as CEO of the company, as evidenced by the stock's strong performance since its IPO. But over the past five years, shares of eBay have provided essentially flat performance as the company struggles to find ways to deal with slowing growth in the auction business.

Shortly after joining the company, Whitman said that no CEO should stay more than 10 years because a fresh perspective is needed at that point. With her 10 year anniversary approaching in March, she could be staying true to her word.

If she does in fact retire, look for her to stay active working on the presidential bid of Mitt Romney, whom she worked with at Bain Capital.

MarketWatch writer Dan Gallagher offered a brief synopsis of comments by Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck in reaction to Peck's January 17 upgrade of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). In my opinion, Gallagher was too kind with his writing. Peck's comments are a weak attempt to cloud perceptions, nothing more. Let's take a look at some of those words, shall we?

In using a pendulum metaphor, Peck refers to eBay investors as being either greedy or fearful. I believe that to mean he thinks investors who sold in the $40 range were greedy and investors who are now resisting the $30 mark live in fear. I give more credit to the investors in their reaction to issues we've discussed. Mr.Peck seems to think they've overreacted on both ends.

Robert Peck offered the statement that, "eBay's issues have been overly accounted for" as if eBay's issues comprise a tangible, one time composite. I'll tell you as fact that eBay's negative issues are active and on going. You've read the news and I think you sense that there's much pressure coming in. Amazon clipped eBay's holiday season page views. Ticket selling competitors are on the prowl. Skype still flounders without declared intent and Meg Whitman is now toying with exit plans.

Peck concedes that eBay could be affected by changes in consumer spending due to recession but he would like us to believe that increased bargain hunting will offset possible negative affects. What he doesn't mention is that a bargain binge could deeply affect the bottom line of PayPal, eBay's lion-hearted revenue generator. We must also not forget that a checkout service has taken hold via Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and now we're hearing whispers of increased payment services from Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).

PAPERS:

• With shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) down 17% from their highs in 2007, CEO Meg Whitman is more than likely on her way out, TheDeal Blogs speculated.
• According to sources, International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) is in advanced talks to acquire the Israeli start-up XIV for 4300M-$350M, Globes reported.
• According to sources in London and New York, Merrill Lynch and Co Inc's (NYSE: MER) CEO, John Thain, is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds this weekend, which could lead to the sale of another big stake in the U.S. bank, the Observer reported.

WEB SITES:

• According to motherboard makers, DigiTimes reported that Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) may have the upper hand against Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) in the next IGP chipset battle.
• iLounge learned that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: APPL) is planning a push for iTunes tagging-ready, HD Radio-equipped boomboxes with iPod docks and is expected to make an announcement at Macworld in mid-January.

I seriously enjoy reading Ina Steiner. She's the editor of AuctionBytes.com. I like her stuff because she's just so damn objective. She simply lays out the facts and lets you come to your own conclusions. I also like Ina because she continuously holds a very bright light directly at eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).

Recently, Ina opened the floor at the AuctionBytes blog for discussion about the involvement of Meg Whitman in the Mitt Romney campaign. Needless to say, the situation has raised some eyebrows. Personally, I don't care what direction either Meg or Mitt choose to go. Ina's readers, however, had a very dim view of the situation. My question is, has Meg's insurgence into the political realm affected the shareholders of eBay?

Forget for a moment all the ill conceived plans that eBay has tripped over. Ignore the Skype debacle, the eBay China crash, the silencing of Stubhub and the host of other demons that in my opinion the Whitman crew has set loose, buried or denied. Forget for a moment about all that cash flowing into eBay coffers with nothing better accomplished than to outsource customer service and to pay Whitman's salary. Ignore the wolf at the door in the form of Amazon Inc.(NASDAQ: AMZN). Never mind that eBay has lost its shine and reputation and is yet to pay a dividend to its shareholders. I'm talking about presidential politics and corporate wrangling here.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is recently up $1.67 to $34.19.

American Technology Research says: "We recommend that investors consider EBAY as a defensive play-the shares as attractively valued according to just about every traditional metric, EBAY offers insulation from a U.S. consumer spending slow-down via its substantial international exposure."

EBAY December option implied volatility is at 33, January is at 38 and April is at 40. EBAY average option implied volatility over the last 26-weeks is 37 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing near term risk.

Daily Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Any savvy eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) seller will tell you that oftentimes items sell better together. For instance, a set of 1959 Topps baseball cards would likely fetch more than the individual cards.

But other times, especially in the case of items that aren't really related, you'll get more listing them separately. For instance, The Backstreet Boys new CD probably wouldn't sell well packaged with Kurt Cobain's Journals.

Given the wide variety of business that eBay now has under its umbrella -- Skype, PayPal. StubHub, and others -- some are suggesting that it might be time for eBay to split itself up, or at least divest a few non-core assets. According to The Wall Street Journal [subscription]:

So why aren't investors giving eBay proper credit? Ms. Whitman's big $3.1 billion purchase of Skype and subsequent need to write-down that business's value left a lingering impression that she is an empire builder. One way to show that isn't the case would be to push some of eBay's businesses out of the tent.

PayPal might find independence handy. Rivals Amazon or Google might reconsider their aversion to using Paypal's services if it wasn't run by a competitor. Spinning it off or selling a stake in a public offering also might reduce the conglomerate discount attached to eBay. Selling may not be as fun as shopping, but it usually is more lucrative.

But The Journal already summed up the problem: All the indications would seem to be that Meg Whitman is an empire-builder, making any strategic changes unlikely without outside pressure.

This morning, our own Tom Barlow reported on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) earnings. Though Tom (and others) consider EBAY's purchase of Internet-phone company Skype "ill-advised," given its drag on company earnings, overall results were "pretty impressive" absent of this factor, exceeding market expectations on building revenue.

But despite the fact that Skype directly resulted in eBay's first negative quarter since 1999, for now the company is stuck with the unit, which eBay executives probably overvalued when they shelled out $2.6 billion. So now the auctioneering giant can only look forward with a planned reorganization of Skype.

CEO and co-founder of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom, stepped down from his position on October 1, leaving eBay Chief Strategy Officer Michael van Swaaiij in charge in the interim. Meg Whitman, president/CEO of eBay, told The Associated Press yesterday that "Moving to new management [for Skype] was completely the right thing to do. I actually feel confident in the business longer term ... it's always hard to forecast growth of a two-year old. It's now a four-year-old and it's almost the fastest startup in the Internet," Whitman added.

Yesterday, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced that the co-founder and chief executive of its Skype division, Niklas Zennstrom , was stepping down, and that eBay would take $1.43 billion in charges for the internet phone division. Of that, $900 million will be a write-down in the value of Skype, what's called an impairment charge. The rest, $530 million, is payment for certain shareholders to settle future obligations.

Well, well, well. It seems that eBay had finally caught on. Hadn't investors been saying the $2.6 billion Skype acquisition in October 2005 was overvalued from all along?

While Skype was profitable the last two quarters, its contribution to eBay's top line was abysmal considering it was one of three legs eBay was counting on in its Power of Three strategy. The other two being the online auction business, or market place, and PayPal, the online payment service. For 2006, Skype contributed $194 million to eBay's near $6 billion revenue, that's about 3.2%. To give you an idea, market place contributed $4.3 billion and PayPal $1.4 billion. In the first six months of 2007, Skype did better and contributed $168 million or 4.7% to eBay's total revenue of $3.6 billion. Better, and certainly growing nicely (over 100% year-over-year growth), but still a far cry from what it should be considering the price paid.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is recently up 13 cents to $26.88 in pre-open trading.

• YHOO is expected to report EPS on 10/16.
  
• YHOO October option implied volatility of 47 is above its 26-week average of 35 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

eBay (NASDAQS: EBAY) closed at $39.18.

• EBAY is expected to report EPS on 10/17.
  
• Goldman Sachs CO said on 9/26: "Raising estimates due to continued revenue/listing improvements."
  
• EBAY October at the money straddle is priced at $3.05. EBAY October option implied volatility of 37 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, indicating slightly larger risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

When eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) bought Skype last year, the company's CEO, Meg Whitman, argued that the $2.6 billion purchase made sense because of synergies. Most importantly, the estimation that eBay activity would increase as buyers and sellers could communicate via Skype.

But according to Breakingviews, Skype has "failed to live up to" this estimation. As a result, the synergies between Sykpe and eBay remain largely unnoticed or nonexistent.

Breakingviews makes an interesting point -- Skype would be an unbelievably useful tool for social networking websites. Both MySpace and Facebook are going to have huge money behind them in the next few years. MySpace, with the support of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), has potential as a buyer. However, Facebook is the better bet. With the company allegedly preparing for an IPO, Facebook's renegade founder Mark Zuckerburg will soon have the capital to acquire Skype if he so desires.

eBay and Skype don't really have any legitimate synergies. Auction activity hasn't been increasing due to the "Skype safety" that Whitman advocated at the time of purchase. But Skype remains a very valuable company, especially to a service that could actually integrate Skype effectively such as Facebook or MySpace.