SAN JOSE, Calif. - Meg Whitman, the Web-pioneering chief executive of eBay Inc., is preparing to retire after a decade at the helm of the online auctioneer, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, reported Tuesday that Whitman has been delegating more daily responsibilities and is working on a plan of succession. The paper says a decision about her departure could be made within weeks.

A call to eBay seeking comment Tuesday morning was not immediately returned.

EBay shares fell $2.03, or 7.2 percent, to $26.30 in premarket trading.

The Journal reported that John Donahoe, 47, whom Ms. Whitman recruited in 2005 to head eBay's auction business unit, has emerged as her most likely successor.

Few executives who helped pioneer the commercialization of the Internet have remained on top for as long as the 51-year-old Whitman. When she joined eBay in 1998, the company employed 30 people and had revenues of $86 million that year.

The company now employs 15,000 people and had $5.97 billion in revenues last year.

Whitman's retirement would come at a critical point for eBay. Although its divisions include PayPal electronic payment and ticket broker StubHub.com, the company's auction business — which accounts for more than two-thirds of eBay's annual revenue — has experienced slowing growth rates for the past few years.

Despite eBay's success, there have been missteps along the way.

In October, eBay announced it would take a $900 million write-down in the value of telecommunications division Skype. That charge, for what accountants call impairment, essentially acknowledged that eBay executives drastically overvalued the $2.6 billion Skype acquisition, completed in October 2005.