Craigslist and eBay quip it out in court
The highly visible trial being held to determine just how much of Craigslist is owned by eBay is producing drama, posturing, quotable quips, and maybe even an eventual actual verdict.
The purported purpose of the trial is to figure out precisely what percentage of Craigslist stock is currently owned by eBay. Apparently something simple, such as counting it, is not good enough. Back in 2004, eBay bought a veritable raft of Craigslist stock, believing that it then owned 28.4 percent. Sometime between now and then, eBay believes that Craigslist thought up and implemented a scheme to water down the value of its own stock, according to a CNET blog. If the latter option is the case, eBay’s share of Craigslist has been diluted to 24 percent.
This courtroom battle is of such breathtaking magnitude that it is being streamed live by the Courtroom View Network. Some observers think that it is all about money. Others seem to think that it is about who can look the nicest on television and therefore win. What is fairly clear is that a number of the participants have been practicing their quotability in front of the mirror, as they may have been doing since the beginning, resulting in the following over the course of the dispute:
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman on eBay founder Pierre Omidyar: “To be honest, I was starting to get concerned because really, nobody doesn’t like Pierre.”
Craig himself has said of Whitman that “eBay, specifically Meg Whitman, made commitments, and broke them.”
Jim Buckmaster of Craigslist, not to be outdone, said in 2007, “It is my sad duty to report that we are no longer comfortable having eBay as a shareholder,” to which Whitman replied, “We are so happy with our relationship with Craigslist that we could neither imagine doing anything to disturb our personal rapport with you or [Craigslist founder] Craig [Newmark], nor parting with our shareholding in Craigslist Inc. under any foreseeable circumstances. Quite to the contrary, we would welcome the opportunity to acquire the remainder of Craigslist Inc. we do not already own whenever you and Craig feel it would be appropriate.”
It has been noted that the only people that win when rich people sue other rich people is rich people. That, of course, is not true unless the attorneys are also rich people, which they probably are in this case. If the participants ever get tired of doing this trial thing on television, perhaps they can have a conversation with the network brass about taking over for Leno.
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December 14th, 2009
Well now, THAT was a brilliant piece of journalistic writing. Very insightful – not! Excellent parroting abilities though…