EBay and Carl Icahn ended their proxy fight on Thursday as the activist investor dropped his proposal that EBay split off its PayPal payments unit. Icahn in January called for the e-commerce company to hive off its PayPal business, arguing the unit is undervalued as part of eBay.

Icahn, who controls about 2 percent of eBay, sent open letters to eBay's Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe an the company's board. Donahoe had urged shareholders to reject Icahn's proposal.

In mid-March, Icahn called on eBay to sell 20 percent of PayPal in an initial public offering. But in a statement on Thursday he said e was happy to have reached a point of detente with eBay, although he still believed the company should sell off PayPal.

In addition, eBay will add David Dorman, a founding partner of investment firm Centerview Capital Technology, as an independent director to its board, the company said on Thursday.