Dive Brief:

• Activist investor Carl Icahn, who owns 2% of eBay shares, has been giving the company fits for the last two months, urging a spinoff of Paypal and handpicking nominees to the eBay board.

• Icahn softened his stance Wednesday, calling instead for eBay to sell 20% of its payment service and reiterating his opinion that Paypal must be separated to compete in mobile payments and to best serve investors.

• eBay CEO John Donahoe, who has fought bitterly against a spinoff, seemed amenable to the partial separation, saying the idea was “nothing new.”

Dive Insight:

The escalating standoff between Carl Icahn and many on eBay’s board, including CEO John Donohoe, eased significantly with this downshift from Icahn. Donohoe’s tempered reaction to the idea of a 20% selloff makes the development a likely one, but it’s unclear whether this is the end of the story in the long run.