eBay Chair Omidyar Pops Up at Social News Start-up Ginx

While former eBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman mulls a run for the Republican nomination for governor of California, eBay Chairman and founder and venture investor Pierre Omidyar has cropped up in an SEC filing listed as an executive for a secretive start-up officially known as Peer News Inc. but operating a service under the name Ginx. PE Hub blogger Dan Primack dug out the SEC filing that mentions Omidyar, which also notes that the company has so far raised $2 million.

There’s not much info on the Ginx.com Web site; the blog ReadWriteWeb.com theorizes that Ginx is “a Twitter management service that recommends news items and other users you should meet, based on your interests.” He notes that Ginx is being used as a URL shortener on Twitter by some people, including Omidyar himself.

You can find hints of what’s happening here by searching for Pierre and Ginx.com on Google. For instance, here’s an example where Omidyar points people to how a Google (GOOG) search for “chimp” triggers a link to a site called BushorChimp.com.

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