$550mm in revs?

Adam Lashinsky is one of the top guys covering the vc and tech industry in silicon valley.

This week he has an article about cragslist in which he suggests that if Craigslist was fully commercial, it would be doing $550mm in annual revenues.

I am not in a position to debate that number, but I've long said that craigslist is one of the companies we admire most at Union Square Ventures.  It's got 18 employees.  Surely it would take more than that to handle $550mm in revenues, but maybe not a lot more.

Something to think about.  Hard.

Comments

[Zoli Erdos]

I don't see how someone can apply a formula to CL's current traffic and arrive to such revenue. The very reason they have the traffic is being free and simple: "What people like is what we don't do" says the CEO.
Trying to commercialize it would kill the immense popularity.

[andrew]

Without going into detail about my background, I would like to comment on that number. I believe this number is low. Commercialization doesn't hurt if applied in the right manner. Believe it or not, many people still don't understand how google makes money.

[steve]

fred, now sure how your interest in craigslist's "commercialization" jibes with your opposition to nytimes "times select"? why is "commercialization" good for one and not for the other...?

[Mike]

This has to do with community involvement and getting others to drive your content. It's the combination of a need, social networking, community involvement, and brand management. These items are used in a new way that use the Web to maximize involvement.