Googlers escorted from Ebay party

So just how bad-tempered are relations between Ebay, the online auction monopoly, and Google, the search engine which is muscling in on its turf? Really bad, according to this report from Meg Whitman's jamboree last week in Boston. Google's Checkout team, who are trying to win over Ebay's biggest sellers to its low-cost credit card payment system, may have cancelled the party they planned in the fringes of the online auction house's big show. But, despite Ebay's threat to pull advertising from Google, the Checkout insurgents still couldn't resist a little ambush. At the closing-night party, two men wearing the Google logo on their black polo shirts were escorted out by Ebay security guards. So thin-skinned, these monopolists. The report, after the jump.

With Kool and the Gang performing for a rather packed dance floor, I noticed some big guys move past me, their white polo shirts saying "eBay Security". Along with them was a man working for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, as well as the first speaker from the opening party (the opening party where CEO Meg Whitman talked about a lot of things and avoided mention of Google).

This quartet tapped the shoulders of two young men in front of me. They turned around, and on a black polo shirt I spied the Google logo. "Let's go have a chat," said one of the security men; he clearly was not asking. The Googlers smiled and complied, and they moved with their new handlers to the edge of the dance floor. I considered edging closer or taking pictures, but didn't want to get kicked out myself. The men talked to each other for 5 minutes, and the discussion seemed cordial enough. The Googlers were then escorted out of the building.

[Report from Google Blogoscoped forums and photo from Flickr]

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