Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape and a board member at HP, is stepping down from the board of directors at eBay, ending his tenure with the company for six years. Andreessen's decision was made less than a month after eBay officially announced the company's plans to make PayPal a separate entity.
Andreessen will be leaving behind the other executives on the company's board. They would include Ford Executive Chairman William C. Ford and company founder and chairman Pierre Omidyar.
"It's been an absolute privilege to serve with John, Pierre, and team, and I could not be more proud of what we've accomplished," says Andreessen in a tweet. "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."
Ebay unveiled its plans to spin off PayPal last month.
Likewise, company president and CEO John Donahoe also have high praises for Andreessen and returned the compliment when he released an official announcement in eBay.
"Marc has been an extraordinary board member, and we greatly appreciate the leadership, insight and expertise he has provided over the past six years," says Donahoe. "He has provided invaluable support to me, the board and the entire company."
Andreessen joined eBay's board in September 2008. The company, which is based in San Jose, California, was founded in 1995. Last year, it enabled commerce volume of up to $205 billion.
Andreessen was a co-developer of Mosaic which is the web browser that's responsible for making the World Wide Web popular. The project had its first beta release in September 1993. Mosaic's popularity began to dwindle in 1994 after Andreessen released Netscape Navigator.
Andreessen was the founder of Netscape which is a software producer. In 1999, the company was acquired by the former America Online Inc.
Andreessen co-founded the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz which has Bloomberg LP as a company investor.
The resignation of Andreessen follows the campaign that has called for a split in the company, a move that was initiated by Carl Icahn. The activist shareholder insisted that Andreessen and co-board director Scott Cook had conflicts of interest. Moreover, Icahn criticized the corporate governance of eBay.
The split between eBay and PayPal is expected to be completed towards the first half of 2015. Earlier this year, eBay snapped up rival Braintree and had begun accepting bitcoin in their payment system.
