the_nerd - 11:48 am on Jul 7, 2006 (gmt 0)

there is nothing wrong with cutting out the competition

Of course not. But it's another proof that buying lots of companies that don't really match might get you into trouble.

Somebody mentioned Taco Bell. There might be people who prefer coke over pepsi and simply eat somewhere else.

ebay runs the risk of people heading for another auction platform (G-Bay?). And provide G with a good excuse: we didn't want this in the first place, but gazillions of customers wanted us to offer auctions that accept G-Pay.

Or take Skype: I still don't understand why ebay sank that much money into an unrelated business. Or will they amend the TOS to: "Skype-Phone numbers only".