eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has finally admitted that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) isn't its friend. This is long overdue.
For months, CEO Meg Whitman and other top eBay executives have used some convoluted logic to argue that Google Checkout doesn't compete with its PayPal service. Google executives also argued not-too-convincingly that there was enough room for both Google Checkout and PayPal in the marketplace.
While it's true that PayPal and Google Checkout aren't exactly alike, they do compete. Everyone knew it but the companies tried to maintain this false image that the Internet is one big politically correct summer camp where everybody is a partner and there are no winners and losers.
That analogy bit the dust Wednesday when Google scheduled an event in Boston to promote Checkout to coincide with a big eBay sellers' event. In response, eBay yanked its search advertising from Google. Remember that eBay has been one of the biggest buyers of search advertising on Google for years.
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