You could be minding your own business, in the tight window between quarterly earnings, when an activist investor shows up and proclaims you are doing it all wrong. Take PayPal, which also reported on Wednesday. It was happily tethered to Ebay when Carl Icahn demanded a split. At his behest, PayPal is now stripped of the usual defences that even public US companies enjoy, such as a board of directors with staggered election dates. A “for sale” sign hangs above it, but the only people selling are PayPal’s own shareholders. Revenues disappointed . The stock fell 5 per cent and is below where it was after the split in July.

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