Wall Street Journal looks at Craigslist, the free classified service now serving 300 U.S. cities.
No one really questions that Craigslist could be bigger — much, much bigger. The company took in a relatively paltry $25 million or so in revenue last year, while its peers among the Internet’s top 10 raked in billions.
One industry analyst has estimated that Craigslist could generate 20 times that $25 million just by posting a couple of ads on each of its pages. If the estimate is to be believed, that’s half a billion dollars a year being left on the table. What kind of company turns up its nose at $500 million?
According to its CEO, Jim Buckmaster, a company fully focussed on one thing—delivering its brand promise to its customers. “If it’s not something that users are asking for,” he says, “we don’t consider it.”
hard to believe hum…but pretty cool to know that there are still people who keep their focus.