What the bloody pig mask says about EBay

Follow Us Get the newsletter Hi folks, it's Shelly. The story has everything: A bloody pig face mask. Boxes of cockroaches and live spiders. Attempts to secretly install a GPS tracker on the car of sworn enemies. An ominous pledge from an underling to his boss: "We are going to crush this lady." And a missive from the chief executive officer: "Take her down."  It's the stuff of spy thrillers, but of course these are real details from criminal charges filed by federal prosecutors this week against six former employees of EBay Inc. The employees, including two executives, allegedly cyber-stalked the owners of an e-commerce newsletter. The charges paint a picture that is a marvel of corporate absurdity at a once-iconic tech giant, but they also reveal a sense of deep desperation at a rudderless company. Last year, EcommerceBytes, a small trade publication launched by a Massachusetts couple in 1999, criticized EBay over litigation it was facing and the high compensation of then CEO Devin Wenig. The negative press prompted EBay executives to vow revenge, according to an affidavit filed in court by the FBI. While most companies would just send a public relations staffer to shout at a reporter, the FBI says two EBay security executives and four other employees embarked on a more sinister campaign. They allegedly cyber-stalked the couple, made veiled death threats and sent a series of distrubing deliveries, including but not limited to: fly larvae, live spiders and the now-famous bloody halloween mask. The couple also got an email about the shipment of a "Preserved Fetal Pig."  Neither Ebay nor Wenig were indicted in the criminal case. Wenig has vigorously denied any involvement, but an employee who was charged claimed to have "executive support for these actions," the FBI said. My colleague Spencer Soper broke the news that Wenig and Steven Wymer, EBay's former PR chief, are referred to in the documents as "Executive 1" and "Executive 2," respectively. In their alleged text messages Wymer promises Wenig, "We are going to crush this lady" (and that the Wall Street Journal was "next on the list"). Later, Wenig writes, "Take her down," according to the documents.  What's shocking about these alleged exchanges is not just their callousness, but the degree of attention the two high-powered men devote to a small trade newsletter. It underscores the despair Wenig must have faced at the helm of a floundering e-commerce business that a string of failed leaders had been trying to revive for years. Wenig, who left the company last year, had been unable to explain why EBay's business was contracting as the overall e-commerce industry posted double-digit gains and arch-rival Amazon.com Inc. gobbled up market share and customers. He was also fighting a losing battle against activist investor Starboard Value, which pushed the company to sell off even more parts of its business after splitting with PayPal in 2015. Of course, the problem extends far beyond Wenig. The wild story also points to the lack of governance and oversight by a pedigreed board that includes Intel Corp. CEO Bob Swan, Lyft Inc. CEO Logan Green, and JPMorgan Chase Institute's Diana Farrell. Law enforcement notified the company of suspicious activity in August 2019, EBay said this week, and it "immediately launched a comprehensive investigation" that included firing employees involved. But the board still went ahead and signed off on a golden parachute worth tens of millions of dollars for Wenig when he left the company the next month. According to the Bloomberg Pay Index, Wenig's exit package made him the 14th most highly compensated executive at a U.S.-listed company in the last fiscal year. It's tempting to salivate over the theatrics of a group of executives at a Fortune 500 company tapping company resources—including prepaid credit cards, cell phones, flights and computers—in a scheme to terrorize and intimidate a pair of journalists. But the next chapter of this drama should focus on the cultural rot that lead to this kind of debacle, and why the company fired the employees involved and then gave the CEO $57 million on his way out. —Shelly Banjo If you read one thing Reddit has a "White supremacy problem." This account goes inside board meetings at the company, which has been beset by racist trolls for years. It details how co-founder Alexis Ohanian pushed to take down the controversial r/WatchPeopleDie message board a year before it actually did, and outlines the brewing revolt of the site's volunteer moderators, who are forced to sift through toxic content. After Ohanian left Reddit's board and urged it to pick a Black replacement, some users were unsatisfied with the gesture: "He was in a position to do something and instead he left." And here's what you need to know in global technology news   The war on Apple's tightly controlled app store is escalating. The Cupertino giant faces a double-barreled investigation by the European Commission. Microsoft President Brad Smith called on regulators in both Europe and the U.S. to examine app store practices, and Facebook can't get its gaming app through the store.  Facebook stands up to the Trump campaign... on ads with Nazi imagery.  Tesla eyes Austin, Texas, for a Cybertruck factory. A key sticking point is whether Tesla will receive a tax abatement. The Justice Department says Google strong-armed news organizations. It's the latest salvo from the department against the tech industry. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. 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