A contrite Google Inc. canceled a party that irked eBay Inc. and -- according to a source -- prompted the online auction firm to remove all of its ads from Google's U.S. network earlier this week.On Monday, Google announced it would throw a party in Boston on Thursday evening designed to attract eBay merchants who would be in town to attend the eBay Live annual seller conference.
The purpose of the party: protesting eBay's decision to forbid merchants in its marketplace from using Google's Checkout online transaction system.
EBay found Google's move to be in bad taste and, at some point after the party was announced, took the drastic measure of pulling all of its ads from Google's AdWords U.S. network.
A source familiar with the situation said that eBay's decision to turn off the ads had come from the company's top executives who were steaming over what they perceived as a low blow by Google designed to embarrass eBay in front of its top merchants.
It would be hard to disagree with eBay executives' assessment, considering the mocking tone of Google's party announcement , encouraging eBay merchants to gather at the Old South Meeting House, where in 1773 mass protest meetings were held, leading to the Boston Tea Party.
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