(AFP) - 43 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Online auction giant eBay claimed victory on Thursday in a legal tussle with Craigslist over its stake in the popular online classifieds website.

The Delaware Court of Chancery restored eBay's holding in Craigslist to 28.4 percent after it had been diluted to 24.9 percent by actions taken by Craigslist majority shareholders Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster.

EBay, however, failed in its bid to be restored to the board of directors of San Francisco-based Craigslist.

Newmark is the founder of Craigslist while Buckmaster is chief executive of the closely held company.

In a statement, eBay general counsel Michael Jacobson did not mention the board seat but said "we are very pleased that the court gave eBay what it sought from the lawsuit."

"EBay brought this suit to protect its own shareholders and preserve its valuable investment in Craigslist," Jacobson added.

EBay purchased a stake in Craigslist in August 2004 but relations between the companies deteriorated after eBay launched its own online classifieds site, Kijiji.com, in June 2007 to compete with Craigslist.org.