Craigslist

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark had observed how people help each other in social communities and groups on the Internet (e.g., MindVox and Usenet). As a newcomer to San Francisco, he decided to create something similar for local events.

Thus, in early 1995, he began an e-mail distribution list directed at his acquaintances in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of the early posts were written by Craig Newmark himself, and included compilations of social events and happenings of interest to software and Internet developers in the area.

After this email list gained popularity and was increasingly used for other topics, Craigslist emerged from it in its familiar format.

Craigslist, Inc. was incorporated as a private for-profit company in 1998.

The company is owned by its founder Craig Newmark, its former chief programmer and CEO since 2000 Jim Buckmaster, and between 2004 and 2015, 25 percent of the Internet auction house eBay. Ebay had acquired the shares from a former employee and sold them back to Craigslist in 2015 after a long legal battle.

In March 2008, several international editions of Craigslist were added, including Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese.

Craigslist focuses on the interaction of local people and offers its services in Germany only in major cities with a population of about 200,000 or more. Craigslist competed in Germany with Ebay Kleinanzeigen and Shpock, among others, but has so far not been able to establish itself to the same extent as in English-speaking countries.

• Craigslist Ripper