eBay and former executives have agreed to pay nearly $50 million (£37.5m) to a Massachusetts couple who said the former executives carried out a bizarre campaign of harassment against them that included mailing them live spiders, a funeral wreath and a bloody Halloween pig’s mask in retaliation for their reporting on the e-commerce firm.
The parties reported reaching a tentative settlement in February, but were unable to finalise it until now.
Under the agreement with David and Ina Steiner, founders of newsletter EcommerceBytes, an additional $7m will be paid in charitable donations, including to organisations supporting free speech rights.
Intimidation
The settlement includes $46.15m in compensation from eBay, $2m from former chief executive Devin Wenig, $500,000 from former senior vice president Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former chief communications officer Steve Wymer.
