Sir I know CL has to be doing something good for a lot people, other wise they would not still be around. It is a sad pill to swallow hearing these news stories about people (criminals) utilizing a service to facilitate their dirty deeds. Did a little "homework" about Craigslist, found out somethings I like about the founder of CL. Craig Newmark started CL in 1995 in San Francisco, basically to help people, help each other. At first it was more of a hobby, for a very successful and employed software engineer. By 1999 he and CL was doing so well, he quit working for someone else, started working full time on CL. There was nine employees and himself working out of his apartment. That same year Craigslist became a business for profit. They have always been a no advertising format web site with no plans to ever do so. The founder is still the majority owner, with the current CEO Jim Buckmaster being the other major owner. In 2004
eBay bought 25% of the company from a former employee. The company is basically ran by a three person board by the founder, the CEO and a eBay appointee. The founder "Craig" is not to happy about the eBay setup, as he never wanted CL to be a "Corporation" type company. CL and eBay have been suing each other since 2008 over how things are ran at CL. Craig wants CL to be more of a community based on people helping and benefiting each other and not a corporate affair for billionaires. They make money by charging businesses for adds (employment and property listings). All from the major cities only (less than 15, like San Francisco, LA, NYC and DC). They are by far the largest classified ads service in the world and one of the ten largest web based sites in the nation. CL is a very privately ran company, releasing no information on ownership or finances. They charge businesses $75 in San Francisco and $25 in other major market cities. They charge businesses $10 for property listings in the same major market cities. In NYC alone they average more than 500,000 apartment listing a month (at $10 per month, that's a real decent revenue stream). Fortune magazine estimates the company has a yearly profit over $100 million. They also state, that the founder could have earned billions by taking CL public and Craig says that won't happen. So most people get a free classified advertisement on the WEB. Millions benefit from this at the expense of really a few businesses in just a few major cities. I know this helps many members here at SMF as well and that is very good thing.
I don't like the criminal activity on CL at all and this terrible tragedy in Denver is just plain bad. Done by a very sick person, who obviously had only thought of her self. Just as all criminals as far as I'm concerned, a few self-serving acts affecting many should not go unpunished.
Perhaps when I have more time I'll try to sell something on CL again. So I'm going to not rule out CL in the future, after doing some reading and thought. Craigslist is a good thing, with criminals exploiting who ever, where ever, anytime they can.
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