Ebay purchased 28% stack in Craigslist a few years back. Unfortunatley, there has been rift in the relationship ever since. Craigslist has accused Ebay on two separate occasions. Most recently, Craigslist has accused Ebay of taking confidential information in order to build a rival service named Kijiji.
The investigation is focusing on which documents have been used. It has also been stated that certain officers of E-Bay may have been aware of the breach. Recently, Craiglist was allowed to have E-Bay's representitive removed from the board of Craigslist. They were not able to dissolve the interest of E-bay though.
Corporate takeover or espionage? I'm not sure what it is referred to. This situation appears to be similar to what I have heard that Microsoft has done, or has been accused of. Companies with a lot of influence use their power to take over competitors or obtain their ideas. The intention of these powerful companies is not to have the company that they have influence in to survive. They basically rape them and shut them down. The finality of it all is that they are removed as a competitor.
Could this be what is happening?
Craiglist and Ebay? It’s funny, because they are kind of the same thing. So will this Kijiji thing do exactly what Craigslist does? And if it does, then why would they even build it? Most people trust craigslist so why does ebay think that Kijiji will work out. I totally agree with you that yes, many companies use their power to take over competitors and try an get their ideas. Your sentence about that companies basically raping and shutting the others down kind of blew me away at first. But in a way your right. They take everything the others have.
ReplyDeleteThe article you read was interesting, we continue to see large companies trying to take over smaller competitors by either purchasing or interfering with the competition. I have read on the news that Ebay is very well known for accusations such as the one you presented, in this case, against Craigslist. It is difficult to prove whether or not Ebay is guilty of espionage; however, it should not come to a surprise that large companies would try whatever it takes to eliminate others. We see corporate takeover more frequently now than ever, mainly because of the weak economic environment we are in.
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