Brain Drain Continues! Is It Time To Punch Out At eBay?

September 19, 2008 · Filed Under Internet Marketing, News, eBay, ecommerce · 1 Comment 

Just The Latest Loss

Eric Shoup is just the latest manager that we are aware of who has “punched out” from eBay in the past 8 months. As has been well chronicled by Scott Pooler of TradingAssistantJournal.com, Scot Wingo CEO of Channeladvisor.com and Randy Smythe of MyBlogUtopia.com among many others, it appears that there is significant change taking place at eBay. Scott Pooler wrote a blog regarding eBay’s loss of talent and  his latest post today which asks the question

Is the management team forcing new and untested technical challenges down the throats of the engineers just to make changes in a panic? 

 On my ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business blog today I wrote about the 28 % internal approval rating of John Donahoe CEO of eBay. I have to question whether the number of managers “punching out” of eBay is directly connected to the concern over the rapid and drastic changes ebay is undertaking or if this is just normal attrition that occurs after a change at the top?

Based on the number of employees changing jobs and the rumored impending layoffs at eBay coupled with the significant drop in eBay stock, I feel the answer is clear. Staff, users and investors are not pleased with the the direction the company is taking.

What do you think?