Why did Ebay sue Craigslist seemingly out of the blue? It turned out New York Times had discovered the answer.

It had something to do with a contract between Ebay and Craigslist when Ebay bought 28.4 percent of Craigslist's shares. The contract stated that should Ebay entered in the online classified ads business and competing with Craigslist, then the sides will no longer have something called "right of first refusal" to acquire more shares of each company.

When Ebay launched Kijiji, it did just that. Not only that, but a 2007 email from then Ebay CEO Meg Whitman saying Ebay wanted to buy the rest of Craigslist had the people over at Craigslist thinking that a hostile takeover was coming.

Craigslist then work to reorganize its stock structure so Ebay no longer can elect a director on Craigslist board, prompting the lawsuit from Ebay.

Read the details here.