“Personal reasons” cited for severing all existing business connections.

An announcement on the eBayInkBlog has revealed that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has resigned from all eBay and other companies’ board positions, which she retained after handing over the eBay reins to John Donahoe.

The news originally broken by the Wall Street Journal online edition is rapidly gaining momentum around the ecommerce bloggosphere, with the cited “for personal reasons” being broadly interpreted as meaning she will make a run for Governor of California in the upcoming elections for the post.

Her spokesman, Henry Gomez, also a former eBay group senior manager, declined to comment on her political ambitions and stuck to the “personal reasons” mantra.

The companies, from which she resigned as a board member, have not made formal public statements at the time of writing this post, but relayed statements include -

From Proctor and Gamble, “We deeply valued the contribution Meg made to our board over the last five years.”

From Pierre Omidyar, founder of AuctionWeb, which became eBay, “Meg’s contributions to eBay have been extraordinary,” said Pierre Omidyar, eBay’s founder and chairman of the Board of Directors. “On behalf of eBay’s Board of Directors, we greatly appreciate Meg’s lasting impact and wish her much success in all of her future endeavors.”

From John Donahoe, who took over the eBay helm from Meg Whitman, “Meg’s vision and leadership and her passion for the eBay community have helped create economic opportunity for millions of people worldwide and enabled us to build a dynamic portfolio of leading online businesses.  Her experience and insights will be missed, but Meg will always be a part of the eBay family, and we wish her the very best.”

No comment has yet surfaced from DreamWorks Animation SKG, the third company on whose board she served.  Being on the board of a company at the heart of the Hollywood, and thus California’s primary industry, may serve her in good staid if popular speculation is correct.

On the original WSJ blog post breaking the news, opinion is deeply divided regarding her suitability for political office at a state level.  Some are offering the practical advice that she should run for a lower-level position first, in order to gain experience of the polital arena and see if she likes or can handle such jobs.  Severing all her commercial ties is seen as the precursor to announcing she will run for office.

As yet, I’ve seen no speculation or comment that resigning from the eBay board could be the result of a rift between her and her successor, though there are many comments regarding the lack of a posted farewell notice on eBay sites at the time that Donahoe officially took over the CEO post in March last year.

In the same vein, there is mass speculation regarding why so many long-experienced eBay managers and executives have left the company in the last 12 months – most with unexpected suddeness and rapidity after each successive change from Donahoe’s “disruptive innovation”.

Meg Whitman, despite her many critics, has been an ardent supporter of small business opportunity for many years.  She is on-record (BBC interview) as believing that unification of European currency and banking, with reduced legislative burdens, is the best way for Europe to leverage its incredible strengths in the micro and SME sectors.

On the other hand, her recent history has shown that whilst she is a capable and dynamic leader during growth of a business, she flounders during stagnation or decline.

Such personal qualities will not enamour her to voters.

Ed