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by nl 3910 days ago
Not for most (or at least many)

Airbnb, Xiaomi and Palantir are probably profitable now. That's 3 out of the first 5, and I suspect that is broardly correct for most if the list.
1 comments
bane 3910 days ago
Palantir takes regular enormous infusions of VC money. My guess is that they are in expansion mode still, but aren't profitable (or not profitable enough to bankroll their own expansion).
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nl 3910 days ago
A lot of these companies are taking VC money to pay out the founders and/or early employees.

Atlassian is a good example[1]. Early employees sold their shares directly to the VC fund - none of the money went to the company.

That's pretty common - in the couple of years before Facebook float VCs were buying their way in anyway they could.

[1] http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/atlassian-valued-at...

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