EBay CEO Meg Whitman, Chairman Pierre Omidyar and former vice president Jeffrey Skoll have agreed to pay $3 million to the auction site to settle a shareholder lawsuit that accused them of profiting from Initial Public Offerings ( IPO ) in breach of their fiduciary duties.
The dispute is one of many US suits that concern "spinning" – where investment banks offered the chance to buy allocations of shares in company flotations to top executives of their clients. The practice was common, and legal, until 2003.Omidyar, Whitman and Skoll were accused of personally profiting from shares being offered in start-ups by investment bank Goldman Sachs between 1999 and 2001. The lawsuit claimed they "flipped" the shares, selling them quickly – often within hours of the IPO – in order to make a substantial profit.EBay shareholders sued because they said that the eBay executives should not have used the allocations for personal gain; rather, they said shares should have been bought by eBay itself.Omidyar, Whitman and Skoll denied the allegations, but under the settlement, which still has to be approved by a Delaware court, they will pay $3.395 million to eBay. Goldman Sachs will also make a payment of $395,000.
Property owners in Britain are facing increasing regulation following the Grenfell Tower fire in London and because of policy reactions to the climate emergency.
Trade secrets are a crucial aspect of intellectual property, providing businesses with a competitive edge by protecting confidential information often vital to the company’s business and success.
People are becoming increasingly aware of the risks of unauthorised use of their name, image or likeness online and the importance of being able to manage such use, especially in relation to social media and artificial intelligence (AI).
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