craigslist blog

Team Craigslist AKA “Rigshock Riders” fielded 25 cyclists for yesterday’s Tour de Cure ride in Napa Valley, raising over $50,000 toward finding a cure for diabetes.

It’s a cause near and dear to our hearts — 2 of our 25 staff are diabetic, and our longtime PR maven Susan MacTavish Best is the granddaughter of Charles Best, co-discover of insulin.

Here are a couple shots of the craigslist peloton from the rear — reportedly the only vantage available to the other teams participating:

Here’s part of the team relaxing (oops am told this pic is from last year’s ride, pre-jerseys, duh), and Sean Knox, one of our sys admins, who has organized our charitable rides for 2 years running:

Kudos, Congratulations and Thanks to all who participated!

Get your weekend rolling with this skate boarding bulldog.

Although our response to each of Ebay’s unfounded claims will have to wait, it’s worth pointing out that Ebay is suing us for implementing protections for craigslist that it clearly believes are perfectly appropriate for protecting itself, for example:

1. Ebay is suing us for implementing a shareholder rights agreement, which it has called a “poison pill”. Here is a 2004 filing by Ebay regarding an increase in authorized shares, which it reserves the right to use for the purpose of implementing a poison pill:

http://sec.edgar-online.com/2004/05/17/0000950134-04-007721/Section9.asp

2. Ebay is suing us for offering each of our shareholders the opportunity to exchange their shares for an incrementally larger number of shares bound by a “right of first refusal” agreement, whereby shares must be offered to craigslist on the same terms offered to any other potential acquirer. It had previously insisted that craigslist shareholders be bound by a right of refusal agreement, and has from time to time bound shareholders of Ebay and its various subsidiaries by right of first refusal agreements.

3. Ebay is suing craigslist for implementing an indemnification agreement, which calls for craigslist to pay legal fees for craigslist directors and officers should they be sued individually in the course of their duties. Here is a 1998 filing by Ebay regarding a similar indemnification agreement for its own directors and officers;

http://www.secinfo.com/dut49.71xp.7.htm#1stPage

4. Ebay is suing us for implementing staggered board elections. Here is a 1999 filing by Ebay indicating that Ebay itself is no stranger to staggered board elections:

http://sec.edgar-online.com/1999/04/20/16/0001012870-99-001210/Section5.asp

“Cars and trucks” and “Recreational Vehicles” listings in our For Sale section are up 120% and 100% respectively in just the last 8 months, a trend that is accelerating into March and April.

The public version of Ebay’s claims is now available.

We will file our formal response in the next few weeks, and until then will do our best to abide by protocol in not responding to specific assertions made in Ebay’s complaint.

As those who know us best will recognize, every measure we have taken has been for the sake of protecting the long term well-being of the craigslist community.

Sadly, we have an uncomfortably conflicted shareholder in our midst, one that is obsessed with dominating online classifieds for the purpose of maximizing its own profits.

It’s a conflict of interest worth keeping in mind if you decide to give this filing a read.

Purrrrfect for Burning Man!

We really appreciate the outpouring of encouragement we have received in the last few days from craigslist users, from Ebay users, and from the general public.

Especially touching have been the messages of support from Ebay employees, one of which I’ll share here:

As an engineer at ebay, all I could think when I saw the news was, “Surely, there’s another place to work.” Frankly, I doubt that CL is always right about everything, but for eBay to sue CL is off the charts stupid. eBay had no business grabbing that 25% in the first place. It’s a shame, because my co-workers are really nice, sweet people. But it’s as if I am working for ********* or something. I feel dirty. I’ll be updating my resume this weekend.

For anyone interested in recent press coverage, here is an MSNBC article from earlier today.

And this craigslist user is generously offering free poison oak starts:

Ebay has filed suit against craigslist and its board of directors:

http://news.ebay.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=305980

We are surprised and disappointed by Ebay’s unfounded allegations, which came to us out of the blue, without any attempt to engage in a dialogue with us.

Coming from a shareholder that views craigslist as a prime competitor, filing suit without so much as mentioning these assertions beforehand seems unethical, and hints at ulterior motives.

Ensuring the future well-being of craigslist and the craigslist community is admittedly very important to us. But Ebay has absolutely no reason to feel threatened here — unless of course they’re contemplating a hostile takeover of craigslist, or the sale of Ebay’s stake in craigslist to an unfriendly party. (In which case, they’re out of luck.

For our part, we have always treated Ebay very fairly as a minority shareholder, and plan to continue doing so, despite this unfortunate development.

Addendum in response to commenter question - To be perfectly clear, Ebay’s stake in craigslist has not been “unfairly diluted” as they have claimed.

Snowman (R.I.P.) had some styling lids, irregular or not.