U.S. probes eBay over stealing classified information from Craigslist
by Joyce Li ~ September 14th, 2011
EBay and Craigslist are both big, successful companies that operate websites that enable consumers to buy and sell inventory. While EBay.com and Craigslist.org are different in the way they operate, they are fighting a legal battle at the moment. EBay.com mainly focuses on online auctions, while Craigslist.org offers free classified advertising, all conveniently located under sections such as housing, jobs, personals, and many more. EBay has supposedly stolen advertising secrets from Craigslist. There are alleged incidents where eBay executives abused their positions on Craigslist’s board of directors to attain confidential information on Craiglist’s advertising platforms, marketing strategies, management and confidential financial data. EBay allegedly used this confidential information to launch Kijiji, their own classifieds website.
Pierre Omidyar, Ebay's founder and chairman, is suspected to be a part of this case and is currently under investigation.
Employees involved include top eBay executives such as Pierre Omidyar, the founder and chairman of EBay. They supposedly asked for the confidential information from Craigslist and then distributed it to other EBay employees, breaking the trust between the two companies. However, eBay and Craigslist have been disputing for years and eBay claims that these accusations are false and do not have any merit.
EBay is currently being investigated by the US Department of Justice.