Dive Brief:

• EBay CEO and President Devin Wenig is stepping down, the company said Wednesday in a press release.
• Chairman Thomas Tierney said in a statement that "eBay is stronger today than it was four years ago" when Wenig took over, but he added that "given a number of considerations, both Devin and the Board believe that a new CEO is best for the Company at this time."
• Taking over as interim CEO is Scott Schenkel, currently eBay's CFO and a senior vice president. The company said it will look at both internal and external candidates in its search for a permanent CEO.

Dive Insight:

Wenig took over as CEO after the company split up with PayPal, marking a major transition as eBay jettisoned its payments arm and focused on its online marketplace and auction house. (Wenig originally joined the company in 2011, coming in as its president of Global Marketplaces.)

Revenue has grown more than 22% since 2014, but eBay still operates in the shadow of Amazon's monster third-party platform, which now accounts more a majority of the e-commerce giant's retail sales. Since 2014, Amazon's North American revenue (which excludes its cloud business) has nearly tripled, and last year it was more than 13 times larger than eBay's total revenue.

EBay has taken aim at Amazon, both in marketing and in court, where eBay has sued Amazon for poaching its sellers. But the distance between them in terms of revenue is immense, and even imagining how the smaller player could cross the gulf is difficult. EBay isn't even the second-biggest shopping site anymore — a slot it held for some time even with single-digits market share — as Shopify took over the position this year.

As it reviews its portfolio, the company is looking to possibly sell its StubHub and Classifieds units. Those sales would simplify eBay's operations and bring in cash but would also surrender a source of profit and revenue for the company.

Along with the strategic review of its portfolio, eBay is undergoing a review of its operations, aimed at boosting profits, after consolidating its marketplace regions under one leadership team and announcing investments in payments and advertising initiatives. 

As it tries to expand its marketplace capabilities, eBay this year has added end-to-end fulfillment services as well as personalization features for its shoppers.