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by tim333 26 days ago
Technically, the site doesn't show profits, it shows something like cash flow excluding investment flows, or has more money been spent than has come back in from customers.

This will always be negative for any new business as you are effectively depreciating the assets straight away. Like if you build a hotel and deduct the cost of building it from room income - it would take years before you get the money back but may be quite profitable with GAAP accounting.

GAAP accounting (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) is what's used for official reporting and tax returns but excludes any increases in IP value or goodwill unless there's a buyout. If you included those the likes of OpenAI or Anthropic would have done pretty well. I'm not sure there's a word for that but basically value of the business less the money that's gone in. It doesn't get reported because 'value of the business' is guesswork and can be prone to BS but is pretty important to real world outcomes. AI is probably doing well on that one. Maybe why

>Is AI Profitable Yet? NO. Everyone's Broke.

doesn't fit with the top companies on the list having many billions in the bank.