Democracy or Profit? Ask Buckmaster
Imagine a guy that gets hundred of millions of page views and has no interest in monetizing. Imagine a guy that could sell his website for two billion dollars and is “just not interested”. That guy doesn’t exist? Meet Jim Buckmaster (yes, that’s his real name), CEO of Craigslist:
How about running AdSense ads from Google? Craigslist has considered that, Mr. Buckmaster said. They even crunched the numbers, which were “quite staggering.” But users haven’t expressed an interest in seeing ads, so it is not going to happen.
I tried to explain it yesterday, but most people are just not interested in economic democracy. Hard to understand why. No business model has been more successful.
Question: Are they communists?
Some old people call him a communist. Some consider him and his followers a danger to our economy. But come on, we all know that communism and its planned economy failed. That’s old news. Guys, open your mind! There is not just communist or capitalist. Maybe there are new forms of economy based on a different thinking…
We are not so much anti-capitalist (…). We’re fortunate enough to have built a very healthy business, even though we haven’t attempted to. All we have done is stop short of trying to become insanely wealthy. We have met billionaires and it sounds funny but it’s not necessarily a bed of roses to have that kind of money.
Here’s the news: Presently, we are experiencing the end of all hierarchic economic systems, and a new, healthy, democratic thinking forms a new form of economy that sooner or later will replace its predecessor.
Answer: Democracy is not an -ism
If the next old school capitalist comes along and wants to put you in a corner, tell him: Democracy is not an -ism. It’s not even an option. In the free world, it’s a given:
- You are not a communist if you’re sick of the old hierarchical economic structures
- You are not a communist if you give the old marketing nonsense the cold shoulder
- You are not a communist if you despise the old PR lies
All you are is a democratic thinker that proves his common sense. Jim Buckmaster:
People with that kind of wealth have to walk around with bodyguards. Their friends and extended families look at them in a way they wouldn’t necessarily choose. Their life becomes about figuring out how to employ all that money either by philanthropy or other means. So we don’t consider it that revolutionary to have stopped short of that.
A bad business man?
Jim Buckmaster could make as much money as Ballmer tomorrow, but he just doesn’t want to:
Jim Buckmaster, the chief executive of Craigslist, caused lots of head-scratching Thursday as he tried to explain to a bunch of Wall Street types why his company is not interested in “monetizing” his ridiculously popular Web operation. Appearing at the UBS global media conference in New York, Mr. Buckmaster took questions from the bemused audience, which apparently could not get its collective mind around the notion that Craigslist exists to help Web users find jobs, cars, apartments and dates � and not so much to make money.
If you see business in terms of market share, productivity and product quality, Mr. Buckmaster is a much better business guy than Steve Ballmer:
Mr. Buckmaster said the company is doubling in size every year, as measured by page views and listings.
Fact is, Buckmaster is proving to the profit oriented audience that there are smarter ways to do business. The smartest way is to pay fair salaries, hire good people, keep the head count low, but most of all: Listen to your customer. Isn’t that what all business men say? Yes, but Buckmaster doesn’t only say so, he does so:
pages employees company (subsidiary sites) 1 10000 Yahoo! (Hotjobs, Flickr , etc) 2 90000 TimeWarner (AOL, CNN, Netscape, etc) 3 10000 (YouTube, Blogger, etc) 4 70000 Microsoft (MSN, Hotmail, etc) 5 50000 News Corp (Myspace, Fox, IGN, etc) 6 12000 eBay (Paypal, Skype, etc) 7 23 craigslist (N/A) 8 25000 BBC (N/A) 9 130000 Disney (ESPN, Go, ABC, etc) 10 12000 Amazon (IMDB, A9, etc)
Buckmaster is not an exotic fool. He is announcing, proving and confirming what business will have to become in order to be successful.
Craigslist is certainly standing out from the internet crowd. With so many people becoming instant billionaires in recent times (well… it seems like a lot), it’s heartening to see that someone who has a clear opportunity to do the same is spitting in the eye of those “Wall Street types”.
To them, I can imagine this whole thing is pretty threatening. Why is it that a company with 23 employees can compete with and beat (in terms of popularity) these conglomerate corporations? As Oliver suggests, it’s not about being capitalist vs communist, it’s just a new way to do business, and it seems to be redefining the criteria for success.
I assume at some point they are going to have to monetize their site to keep it running. There are the simple facts of economics, afterall.
While it is refreshing to see that some people don’t care about money, one has to wonder if it’s just the fact that he enjoys spitting in the face of wall street.
The Geek,
They do charge for jobs. But just enough to cover the costs. If you really wonder if they do what the do, so they can spit in the face of Wallstreet, that’s actually a pretty sad reaction… Wait a second… you are kidding me, right? If not, you should actually check by more often…
My remark was indeed a bit of tongue-in-cheek…
Still, everybody wants something. The misnomer is thinking that everybody wants money… some people want bragging rights, some people want to feel that they are helping others… it’s very rare to find somebody that does something truly to help others without any benefit to themselves.
Regardless, I do admire the man’s position, and wish there were more people like him in the corporate world.
As far as checking by, I read your blog religiously =)
Craig is making lots of money other ways - for example, what he did with real estate ads in New York City. He thinks he’s a hero to the people, while he’s never ever had to find an apartment in Manhattan during high season, nor does he have a New York real estate license.
I don’t buy any of the .org nonsense.
Not A Craig Fan: He doesn’t think he’s a hero, and no one gives a s*** what you buy.
Craig is just a good businessman. Surprisingly nowadays good business doesn’t mean highest profit but best product. Is that so hard to understand?
The disussion is indeed not about good vs bad man, but about what (business) success means. And there I totally understand Buckmaster. The only reason why I would want to make a lot of money is security:
And Craig and Buckmaster have these securities. In plus they are free of big money obligations. What do you need more?
That they don’t give into the big bucks is a sign of not just intelligence but wisdom. That they prove the greedy cynics 100% wrong, is not their main intent, it’s the logic consequence of rational ethical behaviour.
Again we are reminded of Kant’s treatise “On Theory and Practice”. That there are unethical practices doesn’t prove ethic theory to be wrong, such as criminal acts don’t question the necessity of law.
What I’d like to see is a shift in economic perspective: From profit maximisation to product maximisation.
Greed and envy are human conditions that will never change. Yet the function of civilization is to control those and thus maximize the collective potential. I’d like to see a more civilized economy.
I am optimisitic in one sense. I believe that the overall the economy would do better without the current abuse.
Also, Ebay owns a chunk of Craigslist bought almost directly from Craig’s idealism.
I’m sure Craigslist turns a decent profit, at least more than enough to pay their employees. I only wish Tokyo Craigslist didn’t suck so much.
Not A Craig Fan: He doesn’t think he’s a hero, and no one gives a s*** what you buy.
=)