EBay 4Q earnings up; Icahn proposes PayPal split

NEW YORK -- EBay said Wednesday that earnings and revenue grew in the last three months of 2013, driven by a strong holiday season for its e-commerce site and its fast-growing payments business, PayPal.

The company also said it has received a notice from activist investor Carl Icahn seeking a spinoff of PayPal. But eBay said it has looked into that and does not believe it is best for shareholders.

"Payment is part of commerce, and as part of eBay, PayPal drives commerce innovation in payments at global scale, creating value for consumers, merchants and shareholders," eBay said in a statement.

EBay Inc. earned $850 million, or 65 cents per share, in the October-December period. That's up 13 percent from $751 million, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings were 81 cents per share, beating analysts' expectations by a penny.

Revenue grew 13 percent to $4.53 billion from $3.99 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected revenue of $4.55 billion.

Regarding Icahn, eBay said the billionaire investor also nominated two of his employees to the company's board and now owns a stake of 0.82 percent in eBay.

Shares of San Jose, Calif.-based eBay rose $3.92, or 7.2 percent, to $58.33 in extended trading. The stock had closed up 26 cents at $54.41.