eBay published a copy of its corporate governance lawsuit against Craigslist, its founder Craig Newmark, and CEO Jim Buckmaster, filed earlier this month (http://investor.ebay.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=307512). The dispute revolves around Craigslist's reaction to eBay's launch of its competing classifieds service in the US last year called Kijiji.
In a press release earlier this month, eBay claimed that in January, Newmark and Buckmaster had adopted measures that, "among other things, unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest in craigslist by more than 10 percent" (http://news.ebay.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=305980).
Craig Newmark posted a response on his blog on the same date, stating, "We are surprised and disappointed by Ebay's unfounded allegations, which came to us out of the blue, without any attempt to engage in a dialogue with us" (http://blog.craigslist.org/2008/04/tainted-love).
According to eBay, Craigslist's CEO told Meg Whitman in July that the company was no longer comfortable with eBay as a shareholder. Whitman responded, eBay stated, by saying eBay would welcome the opportunity to acquire the remainder of Craigslist it did not already own - whenever Buckmaster and Newmark felt it would be appropriate.
The spat between the two companies is detailed in the lawsuit. Craigslist published a blog post on Wednesday stating it would file a formal response in the next few weeks, adding, "Sadly, we have an uncomfortably conflicted shareholder in our midst, one that is obsessed with dominating online classifieds for the purpose of maximizing its own profits. It's a conflict of interest worth keeping in mind if you decide to give this filing a read" (http://blog.craigslist.org/2008/04/complaint-department).
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