canonical making profit?

[TheMTtakeover]

Does anybody know if canonical is making a profit off of Ubuntu or are their costs exceeding their revenue?

[vasa1]

I remember reading somewhere that MS declines to reveal such information. Indeed, being privately held, there is no obligation.

See this: "As a private company, we don't disclose revenue information." from http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/LocoTeam/...k_Shuttleworth (thanks to tlu).

[Paqman]

Last I heard it still wasn't, but that was a couple of years ago. It sounds like their income has gone up since then (doing engineering support for Chrome OS, etc), but they've also taken on a lot of staff and opened new offices so their costs will have grown.

In the absence of hard numbers I guess you'd have to take growth as a positive sign. Even if they're still not making a profit they've clearly got more coming in. I get the impression that Mark Shuttleworth is happy to burn a certain amount of cash to push the free desktop forward, although I'm sure he feels it would be far better if it could support itself.

[TheMTtakeover]

I remember reading somewhere that MS declines to reveal such information. Indeed, being privately held, there is no obligation.

See this: "As a private company, we don't disclose revenue information." from http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/LocoTeam/...k_Shuttleworth (thanks to tlu).

That sounds to me like not breaking even. I surely hope that at one point they will make money off of it. I would like to see Ubuntu stick around. I think Ubuntu really raises the bar of what to expect out of a linux distro.

[Orion8]

I don't know if Canonical makes a profit or not, but I for one hope they do eventually. Ubuntu can be controversial in the Linux world, but I think they add to the overall ecosystem and I would like to see them succeed.

[deadflowr]

The lasts time I've heard about ubuntu and money was sometime around 2009. At that point it was not YET profitable, but closing in.
Since then, canonical and ubuntu have drastically expanded their revenue bases, with such things like ubuntu one and purchasable(is this a word?) software through the ubuntu software center.
All indications say they are making some profit, as they are almost quixotically expanding into various areas such as TV and smartphones. However, expansion can also mean go for broke.
Profittablity can also be seen in two lights, year to year, and overall. At this point I would think year to year they are making some sort of profit, but as for clearing the accumulated debt from the previous eight years probably not yet.

[TheMTtakeover]

I also notice a lot of linux distros have a donate option on their page but I didn't notice one on the ubuntu page.

[vasa1]

I wonder how difficult it would be for Canonical to set up bank accounts in various countries so that people could contribute by cheque payments. Paypal can be a hassle.

[neu5eeCh]

I think that if Canonical were making a profit, they would say so (if not crow about it). So, no, my bet is that Canonical is not profitable.

On the other hand, if they are profitable, then it's not by appealing to the consumer, but by competing with RedHat. Other than that, their best hope, I think, is in Ubuntu for Android. If they would just stop yammering on about it and do it, the product might rock the world. I really believe that. Heck, I'd buy the phone even though I don't have cell phone reception.

If they don't stop dithering, you can be sure that Android or Microsoft will pre-empt Canonical, and that will be the end of that. The broader public will choose the new Chrome OS or Windows over Ubuntu - hands down. Ubuntu needs to get there first.

[Dry Lips]

In a Guardian interview in May 2008, Mark Shuttleworth said that the Canonical business model was service provision and explained that Canonical was not yet close to profitability. Canonical also claimed it will wait for the business to turn into a profitable one within another 3 to 5 years. He regarded Canonical as positioning itself as demand for services related to free software rose.[16] This strategy has been compared to Red Hat's business strategies in the 1990s.[17] However, in an early 2009 New York Times article, Shuttleworth said that Canonical's revenue was "creeping" towards $30 million, the company's break-even point.[18]

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../Canonical_Ltd.

I bet they must be making some money by now. 2009 is now 3 years ago. Even if MS has a big wallet, a company like Canonical cannot survive forever if they constantly lose money.