No details of the legal action filed against Craigslist were released other than a statement from eBay stating that they were protecting their four-year financial investment in Craigslist and felt as a minority shareholder claiming that Craigslist had "unfairly diluted" eBay's economic interest by more than10 percent.

In a press announcement Tuesday eBay claimed Craig Newmark, pictured above, the founder of Craigslist and CEO, Jim Buckmaster adopted measures in January that had disadvantaged eBay and its investment stake.

eBay and Craigslist though have had an uneasy relationship as Craigslist gives away most of the services provided by the website, which is not exactly the same business model adopted by eBay. The Online auction site aquired a 28.4 percent slice of the company when it bought shares from a former Craigslist employee.

Craigslist, the seventh most popular English language website in the world, responded in a blog: "We have always treated eBay fairly as a minority shareholder, and plan to continue doing so, despite this unfortunate development," it said.

Perhaps eBay was a little too eager to garner profits from the community sites popularity which advertises everything from kinky personal ecounters to job and property listings and everything in between. Either way, one year after the investment by eBay in Craigslist and the founders Newmark and Buckmaster started Kijiji.com an international rival network of paid classified ads that now operates in 50 U.S. states.

I can see how that might tick eBay's Meg Whitman off, maybe even make her want to consider taking an early retirement.