The way the contracts were structured between eBay and Craigslist shows just how important job listings were at the time for Craigslist.
Craigslist on eBay: “Untrustworthyâ€; eBay on Craigslist: “Amateurish†– GigaOM.
Craig Newmark testified that then-eBay CEO Meg Whitman assured him that eBay would not use the confidential information about Craigslist it had access to as a shareholder to compete with the site, however the contract the two companies signed in August 2004 for 28 percent of the company at a price of $32 million did allow eBay to compete, with the exception that it would lose shareholder rights if it offered online jobs postings in the U.S.