Craigslist Has Cost US Newspapers $5 Billion

Lost advertising revenue since 2000

The online classified service Craigslist has cost US newspapers at least $5 billion in revenue since 2000, researchers say.

The study, to be published in the journal Management Science covering the period 2000 to 2007, found Craigslist has had a huge impact on local US newspapers, which have in the past relied heavily on classifieds.

The $5 billion over the 2000 to 2007 period is a conservative figure, "and if we extended the study to 2012 it would probably be a lot higher," said Robert Seamans of New York University's Stern School of Business, and a co-author of the study.