eBay Chaos
Lost in the midst of the musical chairs of eBay management and bone-headed decisions like banning Google Checkout from eBay auctions, was that fact that one of the smartest Internet execs, Rajiv Dutta, was moved from Skype to Paypal.
Reading the tea leaves is hard on this one. Blodget seems to think that Dutta is saving the day at Paypal. But at Skype, he had the chance to create something great and be a true new media titan. Perhaps he is simply more comfortable in a financial services role, being a numbers guy.
If you follow the Paypal-is-troubled line of thinking (which I don’t buy at all) then Dutta might learn something from Dara Khosrowshahi, who is now the CEO of Expedia (after being the CFO/right-hand-man-to-Barry-Diller), and another earnings call favorite of mine. He probably has the most difficult job of all in the industry.
