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eBay Sues Craigslist
phpmysqldev writes "In a very random move eBay has filed a lawsuit against Craigslist to 'protect its investment and shareholders'.
"In a statement, eBay claimed that in January, Craigslist executives took actions that 'unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%'." eBay is a minority shareholder of Craigslist owning 28.4%. Craigslist suspects eBay's intentions are less than honorable, speculating about a possible hostile takeover. The court case is sealed and eBay has not elaborated on its claims."
...they added a poison pill to the articles (or however corporations do such things) in order to prevent a hostile takeover. As a result, ebay's position and their ability to potentially take over Craigslist has been diminished. Boo hoo, cry me a river.
At first, I thought ebay was suing because craigslist was cutting into ebay's auction business. That would be ridiculous, which in American lawyerese seems to be spelled "with merit". Then I was shocked (shocked!) to learn that ebay owns almost 30% of craigslist. Nice little empire, indeed. In reality, it's just a pissing match.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
How could eBay perform a hostile takeover? I believe the balance of Craigslist stock is privately held, and NOT on the open market. I don't think eBay can force someone to sell stock to them.
That being said, I think this is the long delayed consequences of selling that stake to eBay in the first place. Unless there is some special language in the company charter, the commonly accepted duty of corporations is to maximize benefits to the shareholder (not saying that it is right, only that it IS). I think eBay bought in years ago expecting to cash in on the big IPO, which never happened, or reap dividends when Craigslist started accepting ads, which it didn't. Now they want to use their minority share position to force the Craigslist management to run things the way eBay wants it.
I hope Craigslist crushes them, but I'm not betting on it.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Did they sue them because Craigslist isn't obfuscated, confusing, feature-bloated and buggy enough to suit them?
Just curious.
I've listed and sold a few items on eBay over the years, including recently and must say, eBay continues to get it wrong. What a fussy, buggy system. Simply interfaces gave way to bloated, unpredictable and just silliness.
As a buyer, the searches are less helpful all the time. "Look, dumbasses, I'm trying to find what I'm looking for," not a lot of other tripe you think I might be interested in.
eBay, want something to do? Go after those fecking frauds selling fake shite out of China. That should keep you busy for a while.
Meanwhile, Feedback system continues to be worthless.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Craigslist is a untapped gold mine, and eBay knows it. eBay's growth is tepid, at best, and they need some way to appease Wall Street. Why not connive plans on a hugely profitable yet potentially hugely more profitable site like Craigslist? If a hostile takeover was ever their goal and Newmark and Co. nipped that idea in the bud, I'd be a mad eBay, too.
On the contrary, this is the way a free market should work. I see craigslist as a somewhat scrappy underdog that is getting ahead by offering their services at a lower rate than the other guys. If this makes it more difficult for the other guys to make fat margins, they had better adapt or be prepared to lose their market share. Calling craigslist unfair just because they don't charge as much as the other guys is just silly.
One interesting side note - I have used Craigslist on numerous occasions both to find and get rid of stuff. I've also used eBay to do the same. To post something on Craigslist takes me about 3-5 minutes. To post something on eBay (cause I only do so once or twice a year) seems to take closer to 30 minutes. Lately I've completely abandonded eBay - not because they charge me money, but because the process of using their service is so much more difficult than Craigslist.
"Anyone that goes into business with a family member...is a fool."
Fixed that for ya'.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson