By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- EBay Inc. was one of the
most-notable gainers in the tech sector Monday, as the online
retailer's shares climbed even as activist investor Carl Icahn set
his sights on the company and what he views as irresponsibility on
the part of its board of directors.
EBay (EBAY) rose 3% to close at $56.30 a share, even after Icahn
issued what he called "An Open Letter To EBay Stockholders," in
which he said his research has "discovered multiple lapses in
corporate governance. These include certain material conflicts of
interest, which we believe could put the future of our company in
peril."
Last month, Icahn disclosed he has taken a 2% stake in eBay and
was ready to lead a proxy fight aimed at getting two seats on
eBay's board of directors and spinning off the company's PayPal
digital-payments business.
Icahn went on to slam eBay independent director Marc Andreessen,
saying he "engaged in several transactions that lead us to question
his loyalty to eBay." Icahn also said eBay Chief Executive John
Donahoe "appears to lack awareness about what is going on around
him on his board and in the marketplace," and called Donahoe's
leadership of eBay "myopic."
EBay responded to Icahn, saying that the billionaire investor
"has cherry-picked old news clips and anecdotes out of context to
attack the integrity" of Andreessen and another eBay director,
former Intuit Inc. (INTU) CEO Scott Cook. EBay also defended
Donahoe, saying he is "widely respected for his turnaround of eBay
and leadership of the company over the past six years."
BlackBerry Inc. (RIMM) also had a strong day, as its shares rose
almost 8%, to $9.83. The smartphone company said it would begin
making its BBM messaging service available to the Microsoft (MSFT)
Windows Phone platform this summer, and also to the upcoming Nokia
X platform.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) surged 21% to close at $7.03 a
share after the radio frequency chipmaker said it will acquire
TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (TQNT) in an all-stock deal valued at
$1.6 billion. The move is seen as improving RF Micro's efforts in
the mobile-handset market.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) rose 3.4%, to end the day at $447 a share a
day after the online video-streaming company said it reached a new
traffic service agreement with Comcast Corp. (CMCSA). Financial
terms weren't disclosed, but Netflix will now be able to connect
directly to Comcast's broadband network, with the goal of being
able to provide better video-streaming service to its
subscribers.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 29 points to close at
4,292, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) also ended
the day in positive territory.
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