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The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

independent.co.uk

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Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#11

Post by duncan-donuts »

kaycebasques wrote: post #10

I'm curious about the logistical details of Newmark's donations. Skimmed the article but didn't see an answer. This is just a pledge to donate at this point, right? Newmark has not yet actually transferred any money? Presumably his trust would handle the transfer after his death or something. But then what exactly are they donating? Shares in a private company?

The article does say that he’s already given away this amount of money since the founding of Craigslist 30 years ago. From the sound of things he’s always actively doing philanthropic work, but I could be reading into it too much.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#12

Post by WalterBright »

Varelion wrote: post #5
zuzululu wrote: post #2

good for him! but empty words to the american working class it may be too late, now ppl hate the rich

As they should. Money boils down to a finite resource, and a class of people have been flaunting their theft of the working class since the famous balcony champagne image taken during Occupy Wallstreet. That singular image should be the poster of this Epstein era.

> Money boils down to a finite resource

Musk more amply demonstrated how wealth is created.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#13

Post by zuzululu »

Varelion wrote: post #5
zuzululu wrote: post #2

good for him! but empty words to the american working class it may be too late, now ppl hate the rich

As they should. Money boils down to a finite resource, and a class of people have been flaunting their theft of the working class since the famous balcony champagne image taken during Occupy Wallstreet. That singular image should be the poster of this Epstein era.

The reason there is cynicism around philanthropy by America's elite class is perhaps the obliviousness to the methods and means it is created and supported.

"Here is a few billion dollar to a non profit company I control but you better not write that in the article" or "I didn't care for social consequences, I was just another player, it was ultimately for you" vibes

it just doesn't have the impact it used to, ironically because then inflation was low and integrity/morality was rewarded as society.

I think Ray Dalio has done a fantastic job of mapping out the trajectory we are on. We've already started seen glimpse of it and I don't think its going to cool down. America and the West in general has growing fatigue with various elements and perhaps the biggest one is that of wealth gap disparity.

Perhaps a snapshot of where we are: The richer you get the more you need access and proximity to those that monopolized violence and pay protection money too. It's not unlike Italy in the 1800s, you need money to purchase and distribute violence to acquire more resources and eventually the gap gets too big, people can't afford bread, and they get bold.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#15

Post by zuzululu »

WalterBright wrote: post #14
zuzululu wrote: post #2

good for him! but empty words to the american working class it may be too late, now ppl hate the rich

[flagged]

America is the place for very few people to get wealthy relatively compared to the rest is more accurate.

I don't know how long this asymmetric upside down pyramid structure will hold. Monopoly on violence requires participants to believe in its continuity, any fracture in perception no matter how small, will create an increasingly chaotic redistribution effect.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#16

Post by rayiner »

We are almost two decades into the age of billionaire philanthropy and what’s results has it produced? Can you point to any area where it’s really changed the world?

I think a fundamental problem is that the non-profit/NGO sector doesn’t have the same caliber of people as the private sector. There’s no Jeff Bezos equivalent working on inner city education. Bill Gates is really the only one who has tackled this, by investing his own time into public health, which I understand has produced real results.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#17

Post by mattbettinson »

bluedino wrote: post #8
helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

He apparently bought this place in 2016: https://streeteasy.com/blog/craigslist-property/

What an absolute dream

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#18

Post by Kiln6125 »

ryandrake wrote: post #7

> “They told me that I should treat people like I want to be treated,” he said. “I should know when enough is enough. And they told me I should be my brother's keeper or my sister's keeper. And that made sense to me.” Refreshing to see a multimillionaire+ who actually knows the meaning of the word "enough." The world seems to be run by people who don't even know of the word.

Truthfully, it doesn't shock me that the founder of Craigslist in particular, a site that found a good, workable setup and then left it as is, would know this. Its more disappointing that no one else really seems to know when enough is enough.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#19

Post by gottorf »

zuzululu wrote: post #15
WalterBright wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

America is the place for very few people to get wealthy relatively compared to the rest is more accurate. I don't know how long this asymmetric upside down pyramid structure will hold. Monopoly on violence requires participants to believe in its continuity, any fracture in perception no matter how small, will create an increasingly chaotic redistribution effect.

"The rest" is still quite wealthy, even by today's developed economy standards. Median household disposable income is higher in Mississippi, a state widely panned for its poverty, than Germany, the richest major EU nation.

In American discourse, there's a ton of talk about inequality from the haves against the have-mores, pushing policy that often times will lead to worse outcomes for the have-nots.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#20

Post by apparent »

I'd be curious to know how the economics of craigslist works, such that he's made so many hundreds of millions of dollars. It only charges a modest fee for a small fraction of transactions, but presumably the denominator is big enough that this adds up (and of course he would have subsequently invested the proceeds).

I had assumed that the fee portion of the site was substantial enough to cover all costs, and generate perhaps tens of millions of profit (he's well known for having given away money to media, so obviously there's some profit). But I didn't realize that it made hundreds of millions of dollars.

Are there any articles that break down how this pencils out?

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