A lot of web companies raise loads of money and you often read claims of profit or at least enormous revenue.<p>But do they actually make a profit? I have searched and tried to figure this out and there doesn't seem to be a clear answer.<p>Now if 1 in 20 people in the whole world use your product and you're backed by the heaviest VCs then perhaps you don't need to makemoney right away but still...<p>So I'm thinking about first and foremost:
The giants:
* Skype
* Facebook
* Youtube
Smaller ones:
* Digg
* Reddit
* Delicious<p>Secondly:
* All HN-startups and similar kind of startups.Why a lot of them perhaps are useful it just seems like stuff people would stop using as soon as it costs money.
skype - got acquired. users buy service<p>facebook - advertising revenue<p>youtube - got acquired. primarily advertising revenue<p>digg - advertising revenue, sells stuff.<p>reddit - got acquired. displays some ads, but mostly for its parent company.<p>delicious - got acquired.<p>most startups have a plan that consists of one or more of the major 4 plans - sell something, ad revenue, license out your product, cross your fingers and hope to be bought out.<p>a good business relies on one or more of the first 3. the more of the first 3, the better.
I don't mean nitpick your title, but "revenue" <i>is</i> "making money" (actual money, even).<p>When the company is public (or acquired by a public company) you can usually find out if they're profitable.<p>For example, YouTube is not profitable. It generates revenue via advertising but not enough to cover its costs.
<a href="http://rochakchauhan.com/blog/2008/08/09/youtube-not-profitable-google/" rel="nofollow">http://rochakchauhan.com/blog/2008/08/09/youtube-not-profita...</a><p>Skype, it appears, is a profitable venture for eBay. Search "skype profitable" and you'll find that it has been since '07.<p>Because Facebook is a private company, you'll find less specifics about their revenue and profit. My understanding, however, is that they're not profitable yet. IIRC Marc Andreessen told Charlie Rose that they <i>could be</i> profitable if they put ads on the home page.<p>I don't know enough about the other ...