Court battle as Craigslist and eBay fight for control

[clear eye]

Source: The Guardian

• Auction giant claims rival has secretly diluted shareholding
• Whitman and Omidyar expected to testify
Bobbie Johnson, San Francisco guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 December 2009 08.28 GMT

Craigslist and eBay, two of the world's biggest websites, are going head to head in a dispute that could have major implications for the future of the classified advertising giant...

...The case - which has been in process since last year - centres on eBay's decision in 2004 to buy a significant stake in Craigslist from one of the site's early shareholders. The auction website alleges that Craigslist's executives have since conducted a series of secret deals that reduced its share and blocked its attempt to gain a seat on the company's board...

...However, the auction site has since lobbied for a seat on the Craigslist board – a move which it claims led Buckmaster and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark to secretly dilute eBay's shareholding from 28.4% to 25%, pushing it below the threshold for board-level represenation.

Those allegations have, in turn, caused Craigslist to file its own lawsuit against eBay, alleging that the auction site used its position and inside information to launch a competing classified website, Kijiji.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/07/ebay-craigslist

[rucky]

1. Silly question:

how does Craigslist make money?

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

4. I don't know if this is the only income generating source

but they do charge for placing help wanted ads. It was $50 when my company wanted to place an ad back in 2008. I don't know if it is more/less or even nothing in smaller/larger metropolitan areas.

[RaRa]

6. I think they also charge for their real estate ads n/t

[customerserviceguy]

9. I'd never trust a job ad I found on Craigslist

I would suspect it's some sort of scam, looking to get Amway dealers, or such nonsense.

I doubt any reputable employer would invite themselves to get flooded with resumes from any and everybody, especially when there are more effective ways to screen prospective employees to even decide who to deal with on the first round.

[Capn Sunshine]

11. in this part of the world, Craigslist is THE source for jobs

as is true in most of the West Coast. If a open job isn't on Craigslist it doesn't exist here.

[customerserviceguy]

12. That seems odd to me

I've noticed that most jobs don't get advertised in newspaper classifieds anymore, the companies don't want to deal with a flood of applications to sort through. I would imagine that Craigslist would produce even more of the same, the job seeker doesn't even have the cost of printing and mailing resumes.

I figured that most employers are using temp agencies, since they get a pre-screened employee that they can dump if the person just doesn't work out.

[taralynn]

14. A lot of job placement agencies use Craigslist

to post the jobs they are contracted to fill. So even if the employer is not using Craigslist directly, it is how the job is being advertised on their behalf.

[customerserviceguy]

21. OK, they use newspaper ads to advertise jobs, so I guess

it's cheaper for the placement agencies to use Craigslist than the papers. I have to say, I'd still wonder about an employer who did this directly.

[KamaAina]

13. Oh dear. I'm working at one right now.

:scared:

[customerserviceguy]

17. You are the first person I've heard of

that has found a real job in that way. One of my co-workers was trying to find another job on it, and he was just finding people who wanted him to hard-sell useless shit that nobody wanted to buy, even if it were reasonably priced. I guess I've based my opinion on his experiences, plus the fact that I had to go through either temp agencies or personal connections to find anything for the last few decades.

[KamaAina]

24. A) It's in the Bay Area.

B) It was also posted to a national trade group.
C) Did I mention it's in the Bay Area?

[Book Lover]

15. That's because you are thousands of miles away from where CL started

Trust me, here in San Francisco, there's no place to look for jobs other than CL or a company's own website.

[customerserviceguy]

19. Yes, the company website is a good place to go

and companies have you directed through a set of hoops on their site that aid them in weeding out people they really have little interest in talking to. But I've always thought of Craigslist as a place to find something cheap that there is just too much of out there, and right now, that's not jobs.

[Book Lover]

22. Different cities, different flavors (nm)

[quakerboy]

26. Ive listed on craigslist a few times

Found some decent employees and some duds. No different than any other online recruitment tool.

[Xithras]

29. Last time I checked, CL had claimed the #1 jobs spot on the Internet.

Employers love it because, in most markets, it's still free. Even when they're paying to place ads elsewhere, a huge percentage of modern employers ALSO place their listings on CL.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

30. Um...that's where I found my current job

Been here for 5 years now...

[DoctorMyEyes]

31. That's what you'd think but you'd be mistaken

A lot of real, large and legitimate employers advertise on craigslist. After we relocated to a new city for my job my husband found a new job, with good pay and full benefits, with a national company by answering a craigslist ad. And he's not alone.

[madrchsod]

18. car dealer advertisements.....

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. Let's hope Craig wins this battle!

Ebay's management are right wing assholes. They are doing whatever they can to kill Craigslist.

[Book Lover]

16. You got that right (nm)

[onehandle]

3. I hope they both go under.

They're both ripe with criminal activity and scams.

Google should launch something to rid us of them.

[rucky]

5. How do you expect people to find hookers?

[Uben]

7. Stupid question, really.

Follow a republican congressman! Duh!

[onehandle]

8. Drive to the seedy district like the rest of us.

Honestly. How lazy are people?

[cowcommander]

20. I hope you're not serious

Despite their faults, both eBay and Craigslist are wonderful sites that have given many people the opportunity to buy and sell used goods that cost only a fraction of what overpriced new crap sells for. Don't knock on the whole thing just because of a few bad cases.

[Book Lover]

23. You want Google to save us from Craigslist?!

LOL. CL is run out of a house in the Sunset. Google is a bloody empire, with office campuses in major and not-so-major cities. But CL is teh evul... </chortle>

[Le Taz Hot]

28. Geez! I hope not!

LOTS of people are starting small businesses around here, including myself, and use CL as one of their advertising tools. E-bay? They can go under for all I care. It was completely ruined when Meg Whitmen took it over and invited the retailers in. It USED to be just a place where individuals buy/sell. Now, you'll find the SAME add 200 times for the same cheap shit made in China that you can buy down the street at the 99-cent store and not have to pay postage. They've completely run the little guy out so screw 'em.

[JonLP24]

32. Hey there are still people using ebay too

My mother finds great value on a lot of items and profits off of ebay. Plus fraud on ebay happens at 1% or less(remember reading a stat like that when I was initially worried about buying something).

[msongs]

10. ex-Ebay CEO Meg Whitman REPUB running for CA governor - many radio ads which conveniently...

fail to mention she is a repub or that her plan is for everyone in CA is sell all their worldly goods on eBay and go homeless lol.

Msongs

[Merlot]

25. ohhhhh, I absolutely HATE her ads!

She talks in this condecending school teacher voice about how she's going to "create jobs" (entry level minim wage jobs is my guess). She's horrid, and hopefully will be the next Michael Huffington. Remember him? Spent his personal fortune trying to win a senate seat, and lost big time. Gave up politics altogether, although at least he gave us Arianna.

Go ahead, meggs, keep spending your money...

[rucky]

27. In other words, she'll continue Ahnold's policies. n/t