Second Life Interview Sparked Whitman Assault

Anger over being unprepared for an interview with Reuters in the virtual world Second Life reportedly led California Republican gubernatorial candidate—and ex-eBay CEO—Meg Whitman, to push an employee.

The incident took place on June 1, 2007, when eBay employee Young Mi Kim was helping Whitman prep for the interview. The New York Times reports Kim told a fellow employee that Whitman uttered a profanity and shoved her. In Whitman’s version of the exchange, she claimed to have “physically guided” Kim out of the room.

Kim eventually returned to work at eBay, but only after a four-month vacancy and a reported six-figure settlement, which some eBay workers put at around $200,000.

Whitman described Kim as a “respected colleague and valuable asset to the company.” Kim stated that, “Yes, we had an unfortunate incident, but we resolved it in a way that speaks well for her and for eBay.”

Whitman easily won the Republican primary in California, garnering 64.4 percent of the vote, easily outdistancing second place finisher Steve Poizner, who received 26.8 percent of the vote.