Posted Apr. 28, 2008
In a move that pits two of the Internet's most popular sites against each other, eBay Inc. last week announced a lawsuit against Craigslist, alleging the classifieds company unfairly tried to dilute the online auctioneer's stake in it.
EBay purchased a 28 percent stake in privately held Craigslist in 2004. But, in January, eBay says, Craigslist's board unilaterally acted to dilute eBay's economic interest in Craigslist by more than 10 percent.
EBay, the world's largest auctioneer, was an unsolicited suitor to quirky Craigslist in 2004 and sealed a deal on undisclosed financial terms.
EBay said at the time of the deal that it was interested in learning about the classified business, a portion of its own site that's been growing rapidly in recent years.
San Jose-based eBay made $7.7 billion in revenue in 2007 and has 279 million registered users. It is the 17th most popular English-language site, according to traffic ranking site Alexa, while Craigslist ranks 45th.
Craigslist, based in San Francisco, has never disclosed revenue figures and charges for job ads and apartment listings only in select cities. With 25 employees, the site has grown from 1 billion page views per month in 2004 to 9 billion per month now.
EBay spokeswoman Kim Rubey declined to quantify eBay's current stake in Craigslist. (Associated Press)
