eBay executive Garrett Price declared that Monday's testimony from Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster was lies, lies!
Or so says an email from eBay's PR firm, which is aiming to spin an ongoing court case in Delaware concerning eBay's minority stake in Craigslist, the San Francisco-based online classifieds website.
"Today's testimony by Jim Buckmaster concerning comments I allegedly made about Meg Whitman was false and malicious," Price is quoted as saying.
Price was eBay's lead negotiator in its successful bid to purchase a minority stake in Craigslist.
Buckmaster testified that Price told him that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman could go from "Good Meg" to "Evil Meg," and that in her frustration with Craigslist was leaning toward the latter and becoming a "monster."
Making false statements on the witness stand is a criminal offense known as perjury, which can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.
However, eBay declined to respond to an inquiry about whether Price's statement amounted to an accusation of such a crime by Buckmaster. A Craigslist spokeswoman also declined to comment.
Mary Huser, eBay's Deputy General Counsel, did add in the original note that:
The testimony was an attempt to divert attention from the evidence that shows Craigslist violated Delaware law by secretly and wrongfully diluting the value of eBay's minority holding in Craigslist.
The note also didn't specify which statements were false, so as a denial, it's pretty toothless.
Buckmaster was on the stand again today, arguing that Craigslist's decision to restructure shares, which left eBay without a seat on the company's board of directors, were done to avoid a takeover by eBay after the latter company started a competing online classifieds site, Kijiji.
Photo by Sam Bouchard.
Jackson West figures if Buckmaster lied on the stand, that's an issue for the court -- issuing denials to the press won't get eBay anywhere.
