eBay debuts US competitor to Craigslist - or is it?
eBay’s online classified service, Kijiji,
has made its U.S. debut.
eBay’s online classified service, Kijiji,
has made its U.S. debut. For the past two years, Kijiji has operated overseas
but is now available in about 220 U.S. cities, said eBay spokesman Hani
Durzy.
The auctioneer is up against an Internet icon in the privately held Craigslist. The 21-employee company operates on a shoestring budget, is well-entrenched in every major U.S. city and founder Craig Newmark is beloved by users for his reluctance to commercialize the site.
Since 2004, the year eBay bought a 25 percent stake in the San Francisco-based Craigslist from a former employee, the auction site has held a seat on the company’s board of directors. “We’ve learned a lot from Craigslist,” Durzy said. “We think this market has room for several classified services.”
Most articles/blogs about this entry warble about an apparent conflict of interest.
At least one industry analyst thinks this is just another nail in the newspaper coffin. And…
Craigslist is growing too fast to give a damn, frankly. And, as everyone has mentioned by now, eBay is 25% owner of Craigslist and they also have a board seat. While Craig Newmark might not say so, one day, he’ll get tired of being the CSR extraordinaire at Craigslist and want to sell. Trust me, it’s a matter of time. He won’t sell to Microsoft, nor to Yahoo!, nor to Google.
He’ll sell one day, and it will be to eBay.
The auctioneer is up against an Internet icon in the privately held Craigslist. The 21-employee company operates on a shoestring budget, is well-entrenched in every major U.S. city and founder Craig Newmark is beloved by users for his reluctance to commercialize the site.
Since 2004, the year eBay bought a 25 percent stake in the San Francisco-based Craigslist from a former employee, the auction site has held a seat on the company’s board of directors. “We’ve learned a lot from Craigslist,” Durzy said. “We think this market has room for several classified services.”
Most articles/blogs about this entry warble about an apparent conflict of interest.
At least one industry analyst thinks this is just another nail in the newspaper coffin. And…
Craigslist is growing too fast to give a damn, frankly. And, as everyone has mentioned by now, eBay is 25% owner of Craigslist and they also have a board seat. While Craig Newmark might not say so, one day, he’ll get tired of being the CSR extraordinaire at Craigslist and want to sell. Trust me, it’s a matter of time. He won’t sell to Microsoft, nor to Yahoo!, nor to Google.
He’ll sell one day, and it will be to eBay.
Posted: Thu - July 5, 2007 at 08:07 AM