So OK, I’m putting words in Jim Buckmaster’s mouth, but it is better than Forbes’ headline: Newspaper Killer. The lords of finance may scratch their heads over the business plan at the Web’s open source classified superpower, but craigslist users haven’t asked the company to start capitalizing on their massive unique user count (47th overall) and stunning page views (7th overall, 3.35 billion in October). So what do Craig and Jim and their two dozen other staffers do? They ask their users what they want, and then they give it to them. Asks UBS analyst Ben Schachter, “Is maximizing profit not part of the equation?” “That’s definitely not part of the equation,” Buckmaster answers. “That’s never been a goal … We have been fortunate to do well by doing good, whatever phrase you want to use, by focusing only on improving the service for users.” Forbes says “the business plan, by any rational standard, is completely insane.”
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