EBay Reveals Details of Lawsuit Against Craigslist

Linda Rosencrance, Computerworld

Thursday, May 01, 2008 12:30 PM PDT

EBay Inc. is accusing Craigslist's board of directors of secretly plotting to dilute eBay's investment in the online classified advertising site after the auction company developed a competing service, according to a lawsuit filed under seal by eBay last week and released today.

Some sections of the complaint (pdf format) have been removed to protect certain information about Craigslist, which is a private company and governed by confidentiality restrictions.

EBay filed the lawsuit against Craigslist, its founder Craig Newmark, and CEO Jim Buckmaster in the Delaware Court of Chancery on April 22. According to the lawsuit, Craigslist's board held a number of secret meetings beginning in October 2007 in an effort to dilute eBay's 28.4% stake in the company, which it acquired in August 2004.

Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best declined to comment on the unsealing of the lawsuit beyond what was posted on Craigslist's blog. She said the company would have more to say when it filed its formal response in the next few weeks.

"As those who know us best will recognize, every measure we have taken has been for the sake of protecting the long term well-being of the Craigslist community," the blog post states. "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."

Sponsored Resource:Are you ready for virtualization? Try the sever assessment tool.
Sponsored Resource:Stay at home servers. Learn more about a home server for your family.
Sponsored Resource:Get the communications, data, and security a business needs in one neat package. Learn more.
Sponsored Resource:Learn more about ultra light notebooks from Asus and the best warranty in the industry.
Sponsored Resource:Thinking about a new Laptop? Lenovo has models to meet everyone's needs.
Sponsored Resource:Get the truth about remanufactured ink. Learn more from HP.
Sponsored Resource:Six smart ways to grow small business IT

Recommend this story?
Vote Yes
Vote No
0 Yes
0 No
Email
Comment

Community Comments

News For Your Business

More News

PC World's Marketplace

PC World's Free Whitepapers

Tech Industry News

Gaming - July 26, 2008
XBox Delivers a Profit Nintendo still dominates, but Microsoft's Xbox Division posted its first-ever annual profit.
Wireless Networking - July 26, 2008
AT&T Objects to Sprint-Clearwire Deal The FCC gets a formal complaint from a rival to the WiMax network planned by Clearwire and Sprint.
Internet - July 26, 2008
FCC OKs Sirius Acquisition of XM The deal will leave the US with a single satellite radio service.
Computers - July 25, 2008
Gateway to Stop Selling PCs Through Web Site Gateway on Friday said it would not directly sell PCs through its Web site any more, but will now sell PCs through retail and...

Latest Expert Blogs

Glenn Fleishman on Hardware - July 23, 2008 10:33 AM
DNS Dot Bomb: Update Your Nameservers If you even suspect you have a DNS nameserver running in your company, it's critical you patch it immediately.
Neil McAllister on Software - July 24, 2008 3:25 PM
Zimbra Desktop Takes Web Mail Offline The latest beta of Yahoo's hybrid e-mail client enables offline access to Web-based and traditional messaging systems.
Erik Larkin on the Web - July 25, 2008 12:39 PM
The Death of DRM As Yahoo says it will shut down the servers that allow transferring its DRM music, Britain considers a move that would green light unfettered music downloads for a yearly tax.

All Blogs

Featured Resources

Premier Content From Our Sponsors

Cisco Small Business Center Does your network give your business an advantage? Click here to find out...
Microsoft Servers Center Work from home? Find out how the Windows Home Server can help you.