Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen resigns from eBay board

E-commerce site eBay Inc. said Monday that venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has resigned from its board, less than a month after the company announced a spinoff of its PayPal payments business.

Earlier this year, activist shareholder Carl Icahn questioned Andreessen's loyalty to the company. Icahn, who pushed for a PayPal spinoff, said at the time that Andreessen was advising and investing in eBay competitors. EBay disputed those claims.

PayPal is expected to spinoff into a separate publicly traded company next year.

"Marc has been an extraordinary board member, and we greatly appreciate the leadership, insight and expertise he has provided over the past six years," eBay CEO John Donahoe said in a statement. Andreessen, who co-founded Web browser pioneer Netscape, joined eBay's board in September 2008.

Shares of eBay, based in San Jose, California, rose 93 cents, to 1.9 percent, to $48.88 in afternoon trading Monday.