EBay Inc. said Monday that Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who tops the list of America's most powerful women executives, will stay put at the helm of the Web marketplace after being approached to run Walt Disney Co.
“As some of you know, I worked at Disney earlier in my career, and I have a fond spot in my heart for the company. It's quite possibly the only other company I would ever think of running after eBay,” Whitman said in an e-mail to employees released on Monday.
Whitman, who has been with eBay for 7 years and was a Disney employee from 1989 to 1992, said in her e-mail that the firm handling Disney's executive search approached her a few weeks ago.
During her tenure at Disney, Whitman had been senior vice president of marketing for the Disney Consumer Products Division.
“On Friday afternoon, I withdrew my name from consideration, because, in the end, I reaffirmed my belief that working at eBay is indeed the best job for me,” Whitman wrote.
“She has no plans to go. Meg is committed to eBay. She won't entertain any other offers from other companies,” eBay spokesman Henry Gomez said, adding that Whitman is staying with the company for “the foreseeable future.”
Disney on Sunday said it had named current company President Robert Iger to succeed Chief Executive Michael Eisner, who is stepping down as CEO a year before planned.
