EBay bids for future with Andreessen joining board

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Call it a big win for online auctioneer EBay. The San Jose company announced today that Netscape Communications co-founder and all-around golden geek Marc Andreessen had joined its board of directors.

In a statement, EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe said Andreessen’s insights would be invaluable as the company seeks to ‘drive further innovation on our platform, invest in growth opportunities and develop technology that will further benefit our customers, build powerful communities and enhance e-commerce.’

Translation: EBay is counting on Andreessen’s mojo to help outmaneuver Amazon and Google, which have been siphoning some of its merchants. Things are only bound to get tougher with the economy preparing for what Andreessen last year predicted would be a financial ‘nuclear winter.’

Andreessen, who through a representative declined to comment, pioneered today’s Internet as the co-creator of the first widely used browser. He pulled off another major coup with Opsware (formerly known as Loudcloud), which he sold to Hewlett-Packard for more than $1.6 billion in 2007.

He’s currently working on social networking site Ning. He’s also a widely followed blogger and investor. He has invested in Digg, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Qik, LinkedIn, Meebo and Scribd, among others. Earlier this year, he joined the board of social networking phenom Facebook.

-- Jessica Guynn

Andreessen photo by Randi Lynn Beach / Special to The Times