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 "I give Carl a lot of credit for taking the time and showing the
energy, and in this case, we happen to agree with him," Cooperman,
an eBay shareholder, said on CNBC television. "I think they should
spin out a portion of PayPal," he said, noting that he owns about 2
percent of eBay shares.
Icahn, who owns just over 2 percent of the e-commerce company, has
been pressuring eBay for weeks to spin off PayPal. The billionaire
investor has repeatedly accused eBay of poor corporate governance.
Cooperman also said that the U.S. stock market was fairly valued at
its current levels and would be surprised if it shot higher.
The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index rose 29.6 percent last year,
notching its best annual performance since 1997. The benchmark index
has risen about 1.6 percent so far this year.
In a separate interview, Icahn told CNBC that eBay Chief Executive
John Donahoe has delivered "mediocre" results for the company versus
peers such as Amazon, Visa and MasterCard Inc.
EBay rejected Icahn's two nominees to its board on Monday, saying
both were unqualified, and urged shareholders to vote against them
at its next annual meeting.
Icahn said Monday that nutrition and weight loss company Herbalife
was not a pyramid scheme, a claim that hedge fund manager William
Ackman has made. Icahn and Ackman have publicly feuded over the
company's value.
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Icahn owned about 16.8 percent of Herbalife's shares at the end of
last year, according to regulatory filings, while Ackman's $12
billion Pershing Square Capital Management has bet $1.16 billion
that the company is a fraud.
"It has gone to a point that I think is almost bordering on the
insane," Icahn said in response to a New York Times article on
Monday about Ackman's $1 billion bet that Herbalife will fail,
entitled "After Big Bet, Hedge Fund Pulls the Levers of Power."
Icahn, chairman of Icahn Enterprises L.P., said he had "never sold a
share" of Herbalife.
(Reporting by Sam Forgione; editing by
Jonathan Oatis)
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