Craigslist and eBay fall out - Friendship ends up in court

By Nick Farrell @ Wednesday, May 14, 2008 6:56 AM

Section - Business/Legal

The long-running alliance between online classifieds leader Craigslist.com and auctioneer has ended in court.

Craigslist showed up in court to complain that eBay used its minority stake in Craigslist to steal its corporate trade secrets.

The suit counters another started by eBay which claimed Craigslight discriminated against eBay as a shareholder.

eBay thinks that Craigslist had used 'clandestine meetings' to dilute eBay's 28.4 per cent stake in Craigslist to 24.85.

Craigslist demands that eBay restore all shares of Craigslist owned by eBay or for the court to require eBay to divest its holdings in Craigslist. There is also a call for eBay to disgorge profits tied to the business and for punitive damages.

As would be expected, eBay has denied the charges and says that it is all a cunning plan to divert attention from actions by Craigslist's board that unfairly diluted its minority interest. X