Craigslist Founder on Why He Turned Down $11B

**Daniel Berk** (0:00)
When you got an offer for $11 billion, what did that feel like?

**Craig Newmark** (0:06)
Turning it down, I had a little twinge, but then my values, my moral compass asserted itself, thinking having this much money is bullshit.

**Daniel Berk** (0:17)
Was there a point at any time in that deal mechanic that you thought $11 billion is a lot, and I could actually give away even more?

**Craig Newmark** (0:27)
It just didn't feel right from the beginning, and I thought about what I could do with that. Like I could buy a yacht, but what's the point? I could buy a fancy car, what's the point? And I just didn't get it.

**Daniel Berk** (0:42)
Craig Newmark started Craigslist in 1995 off a mailing list. He turned down what he says was an $11 billion offer, and since then he's given away $570 million, and he wants to give away a billion dollars before he dies.
He funds cybersecurity work with the FBI, gear for the NYPD bomb squad, military families, journalism, a whole bunch of stuff, and even does AI research projects trying to catch heart problems early. Craig is such an interesting dude. And by the way, this conversation started the way most Moneywise episodes do, Inside Hampton, a private network for founders and CEOs. Hampton is where founders who do 3 million or more in revenue or who have exited for 10 million or more talk about all the details of their lives, their business, the money they have to spend, where their burn and all their revenue comes from, if they're raising or not. These episodes tackle the same problems that Hampton founders do. If that's the kind of room you want to be in, go to joinhampton.com. In this episode, we'll go through the actual math. What $11 billion turned down looks like and $570 million given away actually breaks down to. And whether or not giving away that much money actually makes him happy.
And why he even gives it away at all. And while you're here, please subscribe to the Moneywise channel. That means more to me than you might think. Now, let's get into the episode. This is Moneywise. I'm Daniel Berk. Here's Craig Newmark from Craigslist.
I would love for you to tell me a little bit about the way that you were raised and you grew up around a very specific lifestyle without the Craigslist story. And so let's start there. Tell me about who Craig is before Craigslist.

**Craig Newmark** (2:28)
Raised in New Jersey, died early, but they did send me to a good Sunday school. And this was at the Jewish Community Center in Mars 10, New Jersey. And the way I got lucky, I got a real good pair of teachers at first, married couple from Europe. I only learned their story a couple of years ago.
But I was paying attention. They set my moral compass, helping me understand I should treat people like I want to be treated. I should know when enough is enough. And I should think about being my brother's keeper, my sister's keeper, whatever that means. How literally do I take it? Not long ago, I learned maybe that I should do things like selling possessions and feed the poor, which from my point of view is the same lesson.
And I just have to avoid taking it too literally. Because growing up then, I was really good at science and technology. Yeah. And grew into the nerd stereotype. However, as far as I could tell, doing a lot of reading, I may have invented the nerd stereotype. Not only limited social skills, but thick black glasses taped together, a plastic pocket protector. And again, I just was completely oblivious to social cues.
And nowadays, I'm still largely oblivious to social clues. I can fake it for about 90 minutes, after which point I will show signs of wear and possibly get cranky. Yeah.

**Daniel Berk** (4:24)
And when you started Craigslist in 99, my understanding is part of the reason why you hired a CEO was due to some of those social cues and management styles. Tell me more about that. What was your thinking?

**Craig Newmark** (4:36)
I started in 95 Well, you're almost right. Started the thing in 95, mailing list, and then about a year after I realized I am a programmer, and email has a fixed format, so I can write code which would turn emails into web pages. I had instant web publishing basically for free. I mean, the most I paid in that period was 35 bucks a month for hosting services. I basically ran it by myself for three years, ran it with volunteers for one year. That didn't work out. People need to be committed and paid.