Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Wheras only profit should matter Profit is money you couldn’t figure out how to spend. During growth, you want positive operating margins with nominal profits. When the company/market matures, you want pure profits because shareholders like money. If you can find a way to invest those profits in new areas of growth, that’s better.
> Profit is money you couldn’t figure out how to spend. Profit is the money showing your business is sustainable. Ever since the ZIRP era US companies keep haemorrhaging money at a rate that is physically impossible to recoup. If OpenAI plans to lose 100+ billion dollars per year for half a decade, what profits are you talking about to offset the losses? > When the company/market matures, you want pure profits becaus…
Notice I said you should have nominal profits.
> Ah yes. Shareholders like money. And not, you know, basic accounting like "we need money to actually pay salaries, pay for equipment and offices etc. without perpetually relying on seeming endless investor money".
All of these are costs that reduce your profits.
A maximally profitable business fires all employees except shareholders, closes every office, stops all RnD, and leases IP or real estate to others on long-term deals that never need to be renegotiated.