EBay Inc. founder Pierre Omidyar and former America Online executive Miles Gilburne are among investors who are pumping $15 million into Maui Land & Pineapple Co. as the company looks to raise funds for general corporate purposes.

The company said it recently sold 517,242 shares at $29 each to Ohana Holdings LLC, which is controlled by Omidyar, and ZG Ventures LLC. Gilburne, formerly senior vice president of corporate development at America Online, serves as managing member of ZG Ventures. Maui Land & Pineapple shares closed down 35 cents at $30.25 yesterday on the American Stock Exchange.

Gilburne, who served on the board of Time Warner Inc. for five years, has been nominated for a seat on Maui Land's board and will stand for election during the Kahului-based company's annual meeting on May 7.

Maui Land & Pineapple spokeswoman Terry Freitas Gorman said the company had courted the investors for a few months. She said Maui Land & Pineapple's biggest shareholder, former AOL chief executive Stephen Case, and David Cole, Maui Land & Pineapple's president and chief executive officer, previously had known the new shareholders.

"We're very interested in expanding the company's shareholders with investors who share the company's long-term vision and values," Gorman said.

Omidyar was listed among the world's richest people by a recent issue of Forbes magazine, which estimated his fortune at $8.8 billion. He is best known for creating eBay over Labor Day weekend in 1995. The Web site has since grown to become the world's largest Internet marketplace.

Omidyar no longer is involved in eBay's day-to-day operations and now devotes time to his Omidyar Network, which invests in companies and organizations that have the potential to make life better for people and communities.

"Maui Land & Pineapple is a transformative company, emphasizing long-term planning and local self-reliance," said Omidyar in a news release.

"I value their sound leadership and business practices, as well as their ethic of stewardship toward local communities."

Gilburne, who has a law degree from Harvard University, worked with Cole at America Online and also was a partner with him at a venture capital firm, the Cole-Gilburne Fund. He also was a founding partner of the Silicon Valley office of Weil, Gotshal and Manges and serves as a director of Pharmacyclics Inc. and SRA International Inc.

Maui Land & Pine said it will receive about $14.9 million from the sale after payment of expenses.