Craig Newmark is an Internet entrepreneur most famed for founding the international website ‘Craigslist’. His work experience includes three decades of working in the tech world for companies like GM, Charles Schwab & Co, IBM and Bank of America.
Newmark was born on 6th December 1952 in Morristown, New Jersey. After the death of his father, his mother went through a lot of financial difficulties but she made sure Newmark completed his studies. Newmark attended Morristown High School and received many scholarships for his good academic record. In 1975 he received Bachelor of Science degree from Case Western Reserve University and then two years later got his degree of Master of Science.
After graduation he got a job as a programmer at IBM where he stayed for the next 17 years. He lived in many cities like Boca Raton, Florida and Detroit. He then changed his job to work for Charles Schwab for which he moved to San Francisco. This was where he first used the internet. He created craigslist in 1995, with the idea of a marketplace where people would be able to exchange information free of charge. He described it as a kind of ‘internet commune’. The interesting thing is that Craigslist began as a hobby but due to its remarkable success, Newmark had to turn it into a full fledge business. The ideas of being invited to events through email really appealed to people at that time when it was a completely new thing. Consequently Craig’s email list subscribers slowly increased.
Craig Newmark is a member of the customer service of Craigslist where he deals mostly with problems such as spamming and scamming. He also operates ‘Craigconnects’ which he formed in 2011. It is a website dealing in publicizing organizations to the media in order to gain help for that particular body. Newmark donated in the presidential campaign of John Kerry. He also backs President Obama. He is an active philanthropist. In 2006, he donated $10,000 to NewAssignment.Net which is a non-profit group. He also assists several groups such as Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, Donorschoose.org, Kiva.org and Wikipedia. He is also actively involved with government workers on many levels to use the net for greater public service. According to Newmark internet should be kept free of cost.
His website Craigslist was created with a foundation of trust. It is now one of the ten most visited English language web platforms. The website is almost in every country of the world except Antarctica. 25% of Craiglist was bought by eBay in 2004. Both companies are very much alike in their in moral policies and in the way they conduct their business.
In 2010, Craig Newmark was featured in Forbes magazine in their list of ‘Billionaires in the Making’. His wealth is estimated to be $400 million. Newmark currently resides in Cole Valley in San Francisco. He is married to Eileen Whelpley whom he wed in 2012. He believes in good customer service and also urges other tech entrepreneurs to ‘do good work’.
