I just read a story on BBC that said EBay launched a site called Kijiji, which means village in swahili, in the United States. The site will function similar to Craigslist; users can post ads for things ranging from personal ads, to garage sales, to homes for sale. The article mentioned that EBay would not heavily advertise the site.

The questions I have about this are:

What will analysts, shareholders and potential investors think about EBay launching, and investing, in a site that offers free listings? (EBay’s core business has been charging a small fee to sellers that post items for sale).

What will investors think about EBay launching a site that directly competes with Craigslist, considering EBay already owns 25 percent of Craiglist?

What will analysts, investors, or potential investors think when they go to EBay’s company announcement board and see no mention of the Kijiji launch by the company itself?

At least in the short term, it seems to me that Wall Street analysts, and stockholders, may not take like EBay’s latest business move.

On the other hand, I think Craigslist users will find Kijiji to be of value over time. After all, it will provide them another avenue to sell their products and services for free.