eBay Sues Craigslist, As Craig And Jim Dilute eBay's Share
from the call-in-customer-service dept
You may recall that eBay was able to buy approximately one quarter of Craigslist back in 2004. The details of what happened were never made entirely clear (and there are some conflicting stories about those details), but it appeared that the two companies co-existed somewhat peacefully for a while, despite eBay's decision to basically create a Craigslist competitor in Kijiji. However, now things are getting more interesting. Apparently, back in January, Craigslist did something to dilute eBay's share, which eBay now feels was illegal. The company has now sued Craigslist over the matter, though most of the details are hidden, as the lawsuit was filed under seal. Given that Kijiji finally expanded into the US last year (just as Craigslist continued to expand internationally), it's no surprise that Craigslist would seek to decrease eBay's stake in the company. Either way, the perhaps already awkward linkage between Craigslist and eBay seems to be getting even more uncomfortable.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: craigslist, dilution, kijiji, ownership
Companies: craigslist, ebay
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Didn't everyone think it was a dumbass idea at the time?
Never made sense. Another example of a Dotcom 1.0 deal.
Well at least Craig and Bucky made their $$$$!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Didn't everyone think it was a dumbass idea at the time?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Didn't everyone think it was a dumbass idea at the time?
Craig was really, really bummed about it when it happened and described it to me as 'a bad business decision'. He also said that there were other, worse options that he managed to avoid and the eBay was the best outcome.
I don't think that Craig has made huge amounts of money on CL, he just gets paid what would be considered a reasonable salary for an exec in his position and not much more. Sure, technically he's worth a lot, but that assumes that CL would have some sort of liquidity event. Know Craig, that's more the highly unlikely while he's still on this planet...
Fundamentally, CL works well because Craig doesn't give two shits about money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ebay "forces" Craigslist?
You have it entirely backwards- CL removes all ads that reference Ebay, because they don't want it to become inundated with links to Ebay ads...if you think that Ebay would demand that FREE ads pointing to Ebay and driving more traffic to them be removed, you are high...
and anyway, how exactly does another company with a minority stake in CL "force" them to do anything?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
EBay is very monopolistic and it shall be stopped
Whats next sue Google ad-sense ... ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Do they really think their position is that solid ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
screw ebay
Im sorry, but ebay is not what it used to be. Craigslist is free to post, and the stuff you get is mostly local, so you know what you are getting into. Sure you may not have the selection you do on ebay. But you also don't have to wait 7 days for the bidding to end. Did i mention it is free to post. I sold a bunch of computer parts on Craigslist for the prices I asked in 3 days.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lame
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ebay - yeach: CL - yeach :P
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ebay - no seller feedback!????
I QUIT EBAY AS A BUYER!!!!SCREW IT!!! We can find many more who feel the same locally and will leave ebay to the crooks and themselves.
Thanks,
QUIT and GONE
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
screwed on ebay
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: screwed on ebay
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Free new Ebay, PayPal, Ebay suspensions, PayPal limited, business and law forums
The forum has a lot of expert advice on it. http://www.modeeworld.com/forums I found advice there about how to avoid EBAY suspensions, get past PayPal limitations, also lots of detailed help on creating your own business, getting past trademark violations, VERO and lots more. Plus general advice on how best to sell on EBAY, what sells the best, how to get the best price for your product, really everything related to EBAY and internet business.
Also advice about how EBAY really works and how PayPal really works. The inside scoop.
Beautiful forum. I was made a moderator of the forum and I love it!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I would rather see Ebay take over craigslist
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I would rather see Ebay take over craigslist
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
eBay Suspensions
[ link to this | view in chronology ]