Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by chologrande 1069 days ago
Sure - but where's the revenue come from?
4 comments
spacebanana7 1068 days ago
Chinese chat apps have monetised really well through e-commerce. Admittedly this success hasn't be achieved by WhatsApp etc, so it not trivial to replicate.
link
sofixa 1069 days ago
They have Telegram Premium, and ads for public channels, so there are revenue streams.
link
chii 1069 days ago
the revenue comes from the future acquirer of the company paying out to the current shareholders. I don't really believe consumers of telegram are willing to pay for it. It's in the same boat financially as twitter - but got better PR atm.
link
Thoeu388 1069 days ago
How much revenue do they need to generate for $250M investment? Paid version with extra features, $40M per year, and they will do fine.
link
JumpCrisscross 1069 days ago
> How much revenue do they need to generate for $250M investment

$30 to 40 million for interest on this issue.

Telegram sold $1bn of bonds in March 2021, when rates were 25 bps, with a 7% coupon [1]. Rates are now 5.25%. Their new bonds should thus yield 12%+.

That implies a total annual interest bill over $100 million, with a refinancing in 2026 on $1bn. Not ideal.

[1] https://bondblox.com/news/messaging-app-telegram-sells-bonds...

link