p2pnet - rss feed: eBay, craigslist Tainted Love
p2pnet news | Advertising:- eBay bought 28% of classified site craigslist in 2004, but now it’s suing the company.
Says eBay, under eBay Files Corporate Governance Suit to Protect its Investment in craigslist >>>
In order to safeguard its four-year financial investment in craigslist, eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY; ) today filed a lawsuit in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware challenging recent transactions implemented by craigslist’s board of directors, consisting of Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster.
In 2004, after negotiating the transaction with craigslist’s board, eBay acquired a minority ownership interest in craigslist of 28.4 percent.
In January 2008, however, Newmark and Buckmaster adopted measures that, among other things, unfairly diluted eBay’s economic interest in craigslist by more than 10 percent. By taking these unilateral actions, eBay believes that Newmark and Buckmaster breached their fiduciary duties in violation of Delaware corporate law.
“The recent actions by the craigslist directors have disadvantaged eBay and its investment in craigslist,” said Mike Jacobson, eBay Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Since negotiating our investment with craigslist’s board in 2004, we have acted openly and in good faith as a minority shareholder, so we were surprised by these recent unilateral actions. We are asking the Delaware court to rescind these recent actions in order to protect eBay’s stockholders and preserve our investment.”
The complaint is being filed under seal because some of the information about craigslist contained in the complaint is governed by confidentiality restrictions.
Says Craiglist, under Tainted Love >>>
We are surprised and disappointed by Ebay’s unfounded allegations, which came to us out of the blue, without any attempt to engage in a dialogue with us.
Coming from a shareholder that views craigslist as a prime competitor, filing suit without so much as mentioning these assertions beforehand seems unethical, and hints at ulterior motives.
Ensuring the future well-being of craigslist and the craigslist community is admittedly very important to us. But Ebay has absolutely no reason to feel threatened here - unless of course they’re contemplating a hostile takeover of craigslist, or the sale of Ebay’s stake in craigslist to an unfriendly party. (In which case, they’re out of luck.)
For our part, we have always treated Ebay very fairly as a minority shareholder, and plan to continue doing so, despite this unfortunate development.
Stay tuned.
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