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United States Meg Whitman is a business executive and diplomat known for her leadership roles at eBay and Hewlett-Packard. Her career reflects a progression from brand management to CEO positions and later to public service.
Meg Whitman began her career in 1979 as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble.
Whitman became vice president of strategic planning at The Walt Disney Company in 1989.
Prior to eBay, Meg was general manager of Hasbro Inc.'s Preschool Division, responsible for global management and marketing of two of the world's best-known brands: Playskool and Mr. Potato Head.
Whitman became the President and CEO of eBay in 1998, where she oversaw the company's growth from a small online auction site to a global e-commerce powerhouse, increasing sales from $5.7 million to $8 billion and overseeing acquisitions like PayPal and Skype.
Whitman joined Hewlett-Packard's board of directors in 2011 and was named CEO later that year. She oversaw its split into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2015, becoming CEO of the latter.
Whitman served as CEO of Quibi, a short-form media content app designed for smartphones, from April 2018 to February 2021.
In 2018, Meg Whitman invested in and joined the board of the eSports organization Immortals Gaming Club.
In November 2019, Meg Whitman purchased a minority stake in FC Cincinnati and serves as the club's Alternate Governor on the MLS Board of Governors.
In March 2025, Whitman was appointed as a non-executive director of CoreWeave.
Margaret Cushing Whitman was born on August 4, 1956, in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. She pursued studies in math and science at Princeton University with aspirations of becoming a doctor. After an experience selling advertisements for ‘Business Today’ magazine, she shifted her focus to economics, earning an A.B. in economics from Princeton in 1977 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1979. Whitman began her professional career in brand management at Procter & Gamble in 1979 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She later served as a consultant at Bain & Company from 1989 to 1992, rising to the position of senior vice president. Her early career also included a role as vice president of strategic planning at The Walt Disney Company starting in 1989, followed by a period at Stride Rite Corporation. In 1995, she became president and CEO of Florists’ Transworld Delivery (FTD) and subsequently served as general manager of Hasbro’s Playskool Division from 1997, where she oversaw brands like Playskool and Mr. Potato Head and introduced Teletubbies to the U.S.
Whitman’s tenure at eBay, which began in March 1998, marked a period of significant growth. The company expanded from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenues to approximately 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue by 2008. Key milestones during her leadership included preparing eBay for its initial public offering in September 1998 and overseeing the acquisition of PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion. In September 2005, eBay also acquired Skype for $4.1 billion in cash and stock. She resigned as CEO in November 2007 but remained an advisor until late 2008. Following her time at eBay, Whitman served as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP) from September 2011 to 2015, where she focused on the company’s R&D division and reaffirmed its commitment to the PC business. After HP’s split in 2015, she became CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) until her departure in February 2018. From April 2018 to February 2021, Whitman was the CEO of Quibi, a short-form media content app.
Beyond her corporate roles, Whitman has been involved in politics, running for Governor of California in 2010. She invested a significant amount of her personal fortune, approximately $144 million, into her campaign, which she ultimately lost. In 2022, she was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed as the United States Ambassador to Kenya, a role she held until her resignation in November 2024. She also holds investments in sports organizations like Immortals Gaming Club (eSports) and FC Cincinnati.
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