eBay CEO Meg Whitman told shareholders eBay is a vibrant community and outlined areas of growth for the company at today's annual stockholders meeting in Orlando, Florida. Approximately 100 shareholders showed up for the 8am meeting, which lasted just over an hour.
All resolutions passed, including a somewhat controversial move to make more stock options available to employees. The resolution had been sharply criticized by some of eBay's stockholders, including the California Employees' Retirement System (CALPERS) who felt that increasing stock options was "excessive".
The amendment to the 2001 Equity Incentive Plan was approved to increase by 14,000,000 the number of shares of common stock that may be issued under the 2001 Plan.
Also approved were: the adoption of a 2003 Deferred Stock Unit Plan; the re-election of directors Dawn G. Lepore and Pierre Omidyar to hold office until 2006; and the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2003.
After the votes, Whitman gave a presentation broadly outlining the performance of the company and the prospects for growth. Only four shareholders asked questions during a Q&A session, and Whitman invited shareholders to the eBay Live convention kicking off today at Orlando's Convention Center. The theme of the convention is, "You're the Star."
Whitman said 8,200 eBay members had registered for the event, and expected final attendance figures to go over 10,000.
