The lawsuit that was filed by eBay Inc vs. Craigslist is now heading to the Delaware State courtroom and there will be a trial that would reveal the inner issues where eBay’s Meg Whitman and Craigslists’ Craig Newmark would be brought to the witness stand for their testimonies.
This trial had been delayed twice already. EBay and Craigslist are two giants of the internet industry. Ebay had pioneered the online auctions and generations over $8.5 billion in 2008 and has thousands of employees while Craigslist is a privately owned company with just a few employees and offers mostly free service for people who wants to buy and sell stuff using their online classifieds site.
Ebay’s April of last year’s law suit claims that Newmark and Jim Buckmaster had a “coercive plan” back in 2007 that decreased the percentage stake of eBay from 28.4 percent to 24.85% which falls below the 25% mark making them lose their seat on the board of Craigslist. The judge in the Delaware Chancery Court had dismissed two charges from eBay but five more counts are still in process including this case.
On the other hand, a month after eBay filed a case, Craigslist filed a separate lawsuit claiming that eBay have deceptive practices such as false advertising as well as trademark infringement. Craigslist claimed that eBay used their seat on their board to get information and launch their own website that is a competing site similar to Craigslist yet denying that it was eBay’s intention.
Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, the multi-millionaire guy that we should all thank for his brilliant idea of putting up Craigslist is actually traveling around San Francisco on Muni.
Just last Wednesday, Craig Newmark was spotted with his goatee and a beret at the downtown area’s San Francisco Embarcadero Station. This multi-millionaire guy who can afford the most expensive car to brag around with is actually using a smart card as he move around San Francisco. Craig Newmark seems to go unrecognized as he rides the Muni together with all the commuters there.
Newmark said that he usually take the Muni on his way to the small office of Craigslist in the neighborhood of Inner Sunset. He lives in Cole Valley so it’s a practical choice.
It’s a fun find indeed. How would you feel if you are riding the Muni and Craig Newmark is sitting right beside you? As popular as Craig Newmark is on the web, his face is not that well exposed to the world that most often he doesn’t get recognized. Who would possibly think that Craig Newmark is riding a transit anyway?
His website is built and loved for its simplicity and his lifestyle seems to be as simple as his website as well. He is simple and practical just like Craigslist.
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was asked during an interview about what is in store for Craigslist in the future. Craig Newmark also talked about Craigslist and how he handles the huge site. He is the founder but he doesn’t manage it as he confessed to suck at managing. His CEO Jim Buckmaster is the one who manages and runs the site. Craig Newmark, on the other hand, is so concerned about his customer service that he reads every email sent to him and tries to send a reply to as many of them as possible. He also iterated that although the flagging system of Craigslist is flawed but it will stay that way because it uses the voting system which allows fellow users to flag it if they see it to be inappropriate. If an ad has been flagged several times, it is automatically deleted.
Craig Newmark answered questions about what is in store for Craigslist. To sum it all up, he said that there is no point in using client-side javascripts for Craigslist because people want it to be simple and fast. It doesn’t need to be fancy as it actually turns people off. Also, he has no plans about a mobile version as Craigslist already works well on smartphones.
So, pretty much Craigslist will stay as it is in the future. Of course we can’t say for certain but Craigslist is great just the way it is and people love it. Data shows that over 50 million unique visitors check Craigslist every month with over 13 billion page views!
Recent Comments