Most business leaders who disdain maximizing profits and corporate values would be quickly shown the door.

For Jim Buckmaster, chief executive officer of Craigslist, the iconic community Web site that has steamrolled the publishing industry with free classified ads, such anti-establishment rhetoric is just another day on the job.

In his playbook, offers from other companies to team up are summarily rejected. (“That’s one of the many ways we keep our lives simple.”) Increasing revenue is a secondary concern. (“And we don’t have much time for our secondary concerns.”)

This comes from the man who oversees one of the Internet’s biggest successes — a company that attracts 9.8 million U.S. users per month, including millions who post ads for everything from secondhand futons to roommates to casual sex. In 2005, Craigslist had estimated revenue of as much as $25 million, and by all accounts, left many more times that on the table.

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