How does Wikipedia and Craiglist make money?

gregdavidson · 11-19-2007, 10:49 PM

I couldn't quite figure out how these two websites make money. They're a couple of the top websites on the internet and don't have a single ad on them. Isn't that the same as saying "I'm not interested in a 100 million dollars of advertising revenue"?

JamieJelly · 11-20-2007, 05:05 AM

Craigslist operates what it calls an open source business model. They don't care about maximising profits, much to the dismay of the capitalists.

I think Craigslist is a truely standard idea with remarkable execution. The story makes for a nice read here
and here. The is also a Craigslist movie, but I haven't seen it.

As for Wikipedia, can't be bothered to research it but I'm pretty sure Wikipedia is non-profit but there is a commercial element somewhere by a different name.

**T0d** · 11-25-2007, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamieJelly

Craigslist operates what it calls an open source business model. They don't care about maximising profits, much to the dismay of the capitalists.

I think Craigslist is a truely standard idea with remarkable execution. The story makes for a nice read here
and here. The is also a Craigslist movie, but I haven't seen it.

As for Wikipedia, can't be bothered to research it but I'm pretty sure Wikipedia is non-profit but there is a commercial element somewhere by a different name.

Sorry you are mistaken somewhat.

CraigsList charges for listings of only certain categories, it does make money.

metros · 11-20-2007, 06:57 AM

wiki are not make any money and they don't want to do any

wwwAD-SENSINGcom · 11-21-2007, 06:14 AM

Have you seen how many people have donated to the wikipedia (top banner)? At the moment of writing, 22000 people have donated. Let's say each of them donated averagely 20$. That's almost half a million $. That's enough

Dollar · 11-23-2007, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwwAD-SENSINGcom

Have you seen how many people have donated to the wikipedia (top banner)? At the moment of writing, 22000 people have donated. Let's say each of them donated averagely 20$. That's almost half a million $. That's enough

lol, and the owners sit back and smoke cigars while the people who wrote all the those articles don't get a cent! LOL

RewardsKingdom · 11-25-2007, 01:00 PM

Wikipedia is supported by donations, I think they also use Cafepress.

Alkaz_web · 11-29-2007, 01:27 AM

yea.. craiglist do charge under certain categories.. sure they make lotta money..

[link removed]

stacy131 · 12-26-2007, 11:20 AM

Well, Craiglist is owned by eBay, so that's why they exist even though they have a carpy design. Wikipedia exists because of its content.

rhyswynne · 12-27-2007, 05:52 AM

Wikipedia as a company makes nothing, but I imagine from the donations Jimbo Wales makes a tidy profit.

-MGS- · 12-30-2007, 03:51 PM

Wikki is a non-profit company which bate on donations for the public to function.

craig list just work on the idea that any income covers costs of hosting etc

both models are very unique and work very well in the open world today

-dan

for_si2003 · 12-30-2007, 04:05 PM

I would say always start a web or a company with your and readers' interest in mind. Keep the profit and adsense on the back bench. In the end you will reap more profit.

labrocca · 12-30-2007, 06:25 PM

Ebay only owns 25% of Craigslist...it's not a majority stake so they don't have control.

Wikipedia even with 1/2 million from donations aren't making any money. Anyone care to guess what their hosting bill is? I would guess it's at least 6 figures a year. Do you think they have that site on a single dedicated? lol

enam · 01-08-2008, 08:37 AM

craigslist charges $25 to post in job category in most popular 7 cities (NY, SF bay etc..). It also charges to post under apartment for sale in New York. Craig's annul earning is over $1M

VirtualHoney · 01-08-2008, 10:04 AM

The sites aren't primarily up to make money but to help people. Their main revenue comes through donations. Like someone up there said, CL charge a few bucks for a listing

daaaveg · 01-08-2008, 02:06 PM

Craigslist makes money off of their job listings...At least in the bay area I know it's free in other cities. They charge $75 to post a job listing. And there are a ton of listings.

paparic · 01-27-2008, 04:29 PM

What about delicio.us? What's their business model? How do they make money?

chancet · 04-28-2008, 05:29 AM

Craigslist use the revenue from the $25 job ads to sustain development. It's not high return. If you look at their site they only charge for jobs in a limited selection of US cities - not for Europe. Things could all change though - gumtree for example, they were always free from ads, and then a couple of months ago started hosting ads. Gumtree and craislist are both part owned by ebay so I wouldn't be surprised if they are just clocking up users before they both bring in heavy ad techniques.

Wikipedia is different because they are owned/run by the wikimedia foundation who are entirely non-profit. It's unlikely they'll ever charge. There are wiki sites that do run ads however such as WikiJob - a site that hosts user provided interview questions for graduate jobs, although most wikis aim to keep the ads as minimal as possible for the benefit of thier users.

Dean Saliba · 04-30-2008, 02:19 PM

I remember a while back when Wikipedia first started a major donation drive they had an F.A.Q up and one question was why don't they put up some banners and they replied by saying that they do not wish to endorse any companies.

Yankee85 · 05-01-2008, 02:48 AM

It's sad that some huge sites don't make money. They live just from donations.