When eBay purchased a 25% stake in Craigslist in 2004, it had people scratching their heads. Because the 2004-vintage eBay still had at least a thin layer of Teflon left, the press and analysts seemed to accept eBay’s rationale for the deal, even though it had been pulled out of the filing cabinet labeled "OBFUSCATORY RATIONALES TO USE WHEN MAKING ACQUISITIONS." (Also to be found in that folder: "VOICE-OVER-IP CALLING BETWEEN BUYERS AND SELLERS WILL RE-ENERGIZE OUR AUCTION MARKETPLACE.")
So you may recall that the official eBay rationale behind buying the stake in Craigslist was "we have a lot to learn from the online classified business." Which seems weird when you think about it — I didn’t find it necessary to purchase a chunk of Oxford University to get a degree in English Lit; renting a room at UC Santa Barbara was more than sufficient.
Anyway. The more believable rationale seemed to be "A departing founder wants to cash in his stake in Craiglist and we want to make sure that Google or Yahoo! don’t get their mitts on it."
Well, now eBay has decided that it has learned quite enough, thank you, and will compete against Craigslist in the U.S. under the Kijiji brand, which until now has only existed outside the United States. Lotsa luck, guys!
Related posts:
No Comments so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.