YEREVAN, January 23. /ARKA/. EBay Inc. on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $850 million, or 65 cents a share, on revenue of $4.5 billion, compared with earnings of $751 million, or 57 cents a share, on $3.99 billion in sales in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, eBay would have earned 81 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast eBay to earn 80 cents a share on $4.55 billion in sales. Additionally, eBay said it authorized an additional $5 billion stock repurchase program.

EBay also said that it received a proposal from activist investor Carl Icahn seeking to spin off PayPal as a separate company, and that Icahn is nominating two of his employees for positions on eBay's board of directors. EBay shares rose 8% in after-hours trading following the slate of announcements. –0--