'So the only thing I've been lacking is a hummingbird feeder that actually works.' But now, with his new house, he has one of those. Newmark used to say that the only thing missing in his life was a permanent parking space. They have to travel with bodyguards - they have to. 'Who needs it? Like Jim likes to point out, we know some dotcom billionaires now. 'I've turned down at least tens of millions,' Newmark says. And yet they have never seriously entertained an offer nor, they say, will they do so. The business has developed the same reach as Google or eBay: Newmark and Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster could sell it tomorrow. With 4bn page views per month, the site to which Newmark gave his name is now just ahead of the Disney network (133,000 employees) and right behind the constellation of sites, including MySpace, run by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (38,000 employees) Craigslist's 300 sites around the world are maintained by a staff, including Craig himself, of 22. Today - as he does all day, every day - Newmark is checking his email, policing the traffic and transactions, the message boards and classified ads of Craigslist, the seventh most popular English-language website in the world.

It also affords a view down into Cole Valley and up into the wooded hillside of Sutro Forest. The deck outside, washed in blinding summer sunlight, is hung with two different bird feeders to attract hummingbirds - Newmark's latest obsession.

At 54, Craig Newmark sits in the office of his small, newly renovated house in a quiet suburb of San Francisco and taps at the keyboard of his computer.

Craigslist desktop gadget