Merc: ebay's buying rent.com, a service that matches renters with apartments. Started in 2001, rent.com says it expects 2004 revenues over $40 million.

So, Tony Gentile sez:
"With the acquisition of Rent.com, eBay is once again squaring off directly with the newspaper industry, most notably with Classified Ventures -- a Joint Venture of Gannett, Tribune, Knight Ridder, Belo, McClatchy and The Washington Post -- which runs Apartments.com, Cars.com and Homescape.
So let's update our eBay vs. The Newspaper Industry scorecard. eBay has:
1) Gutted the 'General Merchandise' section of newspaper classified listings through its second-hand auction/direct-buy marketplace
2) Positioned eBay Motors against newspaper auto classifieds, and indirectly, Cars.com
3) Just bought Rent.com to compete with Apartments.com "

More of Tony's thoughts over at Buzzhit blog.