Re:A Postmortem of a Startup
by Etheryte on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @10:32AM
(#43706078)
Not necessarily, this is a classic misunderstanding. As a famous example, Uber did not make a profit for 14 years, all the way up to 2023. For taxable profit it's even more severe, they've built up a considerable backlog of losses, so they'll pay very little in taxes for the foreseeable future, even though they're now profitable.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:A Postmortem of a Startup
by mytailorisrich on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @11:06AM
(#43706487)
Uber, like Amazon before, had the strategy to forego profit in the short term to focus on growth. Ultimately the goal is to be profitable because that's the point of a business.
I think the misunderstanding is to confuse this for "profit isn't desirable".
Sure you may try to minimise your taxable profit for tax purposes but that means you are turning a profit, and that may be impossible if you intend to pay dividends.