5 ms·

Would he be wrong, though?

by chaosmachine 17y ago

borism 17y ago
I'm stupid, but still not seeing how billion people would have translated into any $ for them...
- jbooth 17y ago
  Facebook has 300 mil, and they're profitable..
  - borism 17y ago
    profitable? last I've heard they are cash flow neutral, and that's considering how many billions invested?
    - mixmax 17y ago
      And they're one of the most visited sites on the planet. They can't hide behind the "We choose growth over revenue" anymore since they're already so huge. If they can't capitalize big-time on the users they have now they have a serious problem.
      - pclark 17y ago
        of course they can hide behind that. Optimizing for growth over revenue isn't that unusual. Facebook is still very young.
    - lsc 17y ago
      reference? I've heard conflicting reports. edit: did some looking: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/09/facebook_climbs.html http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/200... " On Tuesday, those concerns were momentarily quieted as Facebook announced that it’s now free cash flow positive. This doesn’t mean the social network is a profitable operation yet. Rather, the cash it generates from advertising and other forms of revenue now exceed the cost of servers and other capital expenditures required to keep Facebook running. One-time costs, like the reported $50 million acquisition of Friendfeed last month, and operational expenses like personnel, are not included in this equation. Outside investments in the company, like the $200 million it raised from Digital Sky Technologies in May, are not accounted for either. " So, it sounds like if they fired everyone and stopped buying stuff, they'd be profitable, if money kept rolling in as it does now. I obviously don't know for sure, but I would guess that servers and bandwidth are cheaper than labour, for a company like facebook.
      - netcan 17y ago
        Anecdote: I'm involved in online ad campaigns for a number of medium sized advertisers. I would love for Facebook's advertising program and 'stuff for businesses' to get a bit better. I think I could get several $100 - $1000 budgets. It would be a fraction of what they spend on adwords, initially at least, but still significant.
      - sokoloff 17y ago
        In what finance world does "free cash flow" NOT include operational expenses like [salaries of] personnel?

Would he be wrong, though?

borism 17y ago

I'm stupid, but still not seeing how billion people would have translated into any $ for them...

jbooth 17y ago
Facebook has 300 mil, and they're profitable..
- borism 17y ago
  profitable? last I've heard they are cash flow neutral, and that's considering how many billions invested?
  - mixmax 17y ago
    And they're one of the most visited sites on the planet. They can't hide behind the "We choose growth over revenue" anymore since they're already so huge. If they can't capitalize big-time on the users they have now they have a serious problem.
    - pclark 17y ago
      of course they can hide behind that. Optimizing for growth over revenue isn't that unusual. Facebook is still very young.
  - lsc 17y ago
    reference? I've heard conflicting reports. edit: did some looking: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/09/facebook_climbs.html http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/200... " On Tuesday, those concerns were momentarily quieted as Facebook announced that it’s now free cash flow positive. This doesn’t mean the social network is a profitable operation yet. Rather, the cash it generates from advertising and other forms of revenue now exceed the cost of servers and other capital expenditures required to keep Facebook running. One-time costs, like the reported $50 million acquisition of Friendfeed last month, and operational expenses like personnel, are not included in this equation. Outside investments in the company, like the $200 million it raised from Digital Sky Technologies in May, are not accounted for either. " So, it sounds like if they fired everyone and stopped buying stuff, they'd be profitable, if money kept rolling in as it does now. I obviously don't know for sure, but I would guess that servers and bandwidth are cheaper than labour, for a company like facebook.
    - netcan 17y ago
      Anecdote: I'm involved in online ad campaigns for a number of medium sized advertisers. I would love for Facebook's advertising program and 'stuff for businesses' to get a bit better. I think I could get several $100 - $1000 budgets. It would be a fraction of what they spend on adwords, initially at least, but still significant.
    - sokoloff 17y ago
      In what finance world does "free cash flow" NOT include operational expenses like [salaries of] personnel?