Craigslist CEO Seeking Anderson Cooper Type for Non-Trashing (And Maybe Coffee?)

Craiglist CEO Jim Buckmaster let one fly yesterday at CNN reporter Amber Lyon for a report on child sex trafficking she did that focused on the role played by the online-classified giant. It included using a May interview with Craigslist founder Craig Newmark that Buckmaster characterized as an ambush. He ended by noting that if “[CNN anchor] Anderson Cooper would like to come out to SF and sit with us for an interview worthy of CNN’s viewers, we’ll consider it.”

Whitman Testifies in EBay-Craigslist Dispute

Former eBay Inc. Chief Executive Meg Whitman was never aware of any plans by the company to steal any secret information from Craigslist while eBay was a minority stakeholder, Ms. Whitman testified on Monday. Ms. Whitman, who served as eBay’s CEO from 1998 until 2008 and is now running for governor of California, added that eBay originally had hoped to purchase all of Craigslist; however, she learned it would be impossible to gain a controlling interest without purchasing stock from Craigslist owners Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster.

Another Legal Tussle for eBay–And It's Not Skype This Time!–As Former CEO and California Guv Hopeful Whitman Kicks Off Craigslist Trial Monday

Auction giant eBay is headed to court again Monday, and for once, it has nothing to do with the litigious Skype co-founders. Instead, it’s a battle in Delaware with craigslist, the San Francisco online classified powerhouse that eBay holds a minority ownership position in. That stake is actually precisely what’s at stake. Cue the march of the eBay lawyers!
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Is Google Scary? Not to Silicon Valley, Even at a Party for a Book About How Scary It Could Be!

While at a book party for author Ken Auletta in San Francisco last night, BoomTown took the opportunity to ask those gathered whether they were scared or not of Google and its growing power. The Auletta book covers a lot about the search giant, but also drills in on how many have become increasingly wary of Google’s hegemony over key businesses on the Web. Nonetheless, the Silicon Valley types I queried were not even slightly worried and, oddly enough, many mentioned how they loved the food served up at the Googleplex. Hmmmm….
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NPR's Honchos Talk Digital at "Think In" in San Francisco (Also, Scoble!)

Last Friday, National Public Radio top execs came to San Francisco for a “Digital Think In” to pick the brains of some Silicon Valley types about where the public radio icon should go, digitally speaking. While NPR actually has been pretty fast-forward with podcasts and a robust Web site, it still has to think about what social networking means to it and whether a day is coming when broadcasting online will be bigger than offline. Also, what’s up with Twitter?
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News Aggregator Daylife Ties Up With Getty: $4 Million Investment

Daylife, a news aggregator that launched a few years ago with a good deal of hype but has since retreated to the back pages, has landed another investor: Getty Images has bet $4 million on the company, which has raised some $12 million to date.
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Another Way to Describe the Newspaper Crisis: The Craigslist Boom

More fuel for the “Google didn’t kill newspapers, Craigslist did” meme: A report that says the listings service has seen revenue jump 23 percent this year and will end up booking $100 million–even as the newspaper classifieds business falls off a cliff. Craig Newmark’s online classifieds site is mostly, but not entirely free–it charges for a handful of listing categories, like real estate and employment. But that’s enough to create a very healthy business, says AIM Group, which has been estimating Craigslist numbers since 2003, when it said the company booked $7 million.
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Comcast's Twitter Guru on Comcastcares' Tipping Point

If you’ve read anything about how companies are harnessing Twitter, chances are Frank Eliason, under the name “comcastcares,” has been mentioned. He calls himself as “a simple customer-service guy” (not unlike Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, who goes by “customer-service representative”) and said at yesterday’s Federated Media conference that his team fields several hundred tweets a day.

The End of Newspapers, in Chart Form

I’m still not exactly sure why Google has become the chief suspect in the “Who Killed Newspapers” investigation playing out before our very eyes. Because it’s quite clear to me that the real baddie here is bespectacled, mild-mannered Craig Newmark, whose eponymous free service blew up the industry’s most profitable line of business: classified advertising. Here’s the argument in line-graph form.
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Craigslist Founder Calls Social Media Participation Patriotic

According to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, writing reviews and rating services online is becoming a civic act not unlike traditional forms of public service.