Online auction giant eBay has invested $2 million in social networking company Meetup, according to a form that eBay filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week.
Last month Meetup announced that it was receiving investments from several sources--eBay among them--but did not specify the amounts involved. Other investors that Meetup identified at the time were Omidyar Network, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Esther Dyson, and Allen & Co.
eBay Chair Involved With Meetup
In Tuesday's SEC 8-K filing, eBay disclosed the amount of its investment in Meetup, and cited the investment in Meetup by eBay founder and Chairman Pierre Omidyar as the reason for disclosing the amount. Omidyar also sits on Meetup's board of directors, and "entities owned by" him hold more than a 10 percent equity share in Meetup, eBay stated in its filing.
Meetup.com is a site for people to connect with others who have common interests, hobbies, or causes so they can set up and attend meetings and events in their local geographic region.
eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy said Wednesday that eBay had decided to invest in Meetup because the two companies share a common focus of connecting people and creating online communities, not because of Omidyar's stake in the social networking company.
"We've been seeing examples of eBay members arranging local meet-ups in their areas; and since there is crossover, we thought it was an interesting company, so we chose to make an investment," Durzy said.
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