Tech Business
How Salesforce Makes Money: The Enterprise Blueprint
How Salesforce makes money: $39.4B of FY2026's $41.5B is subscriptions, locked by $72.4B of contracted RPO and sold by a $14.3B sales machine.
Topic hub
Tech Business
Business models, pricing, distribution, and the strategic decisions that separate the companies that compound from the ones that stall.
12 articles
Company Teardowns
Tech Business
How Stripe Makes Money: The Payments Take Rate
How Stripe makes money: the 2.9% + 30¢ headline is a collection number. See the take-rate waterfall, what interchange takes, and the thin spread left.
Tech Business
How Reddit Makes Money (and the AI Data Deals)
The Reddit business model runs on ads plus AI data licensing. See how a $2.2B ad engine and AI data deals reprice the whole company, read through its filings.
Tech Business
How Palantir Makes Money: Government and AIP
Palantir's business model spans government and commercial AI platforms. See how a $4.48B, 82%-margin machine funds the AIP bet, read through the filings.
Tech Business
How Airbnb Makes Money: The Marketplace Model
How Airbnb makes money: the marketplace business model revenue take-rate that turns $91.3B of bookings into 83% gross margin and $4.6B free cash flow.
Tech Business
How Shopify Makes Money: The Take-Rate Engine
How Shopify makes money: the take-rate engine behind merchant solutions, why payments now drive 73% of revenue, and the margin question, read through the 10-K.
Tech Business
How Uber Makes Money After Years of Losses
The Uber business model and profitability, read through its filings: a 26.9% take rate on $193B bookings, $9.8B free cash flow, and the take-rate ceiling.
Tech Business
How Spotify Makes Money (and Finally Profits)
How Spotify makes money: a thin music-streaming margin widened by price hikes, ads, and audiobooks into €2.2B FY2025 operating profit, read through filings.
Platform and Business Models
Tech Business
Microsoft and OpenAI: The Economics of the Deal
Microsoft OpenAI deal economics, decoded from the filings: how much cash actually left, what recirculates as Azure revenue, the 27% stake, and the $38B cap.
Tech Business
Open Source Business Models That Actually Work
Open source business models that actually make money: managed hosting, open-core, and support. The patterns that work, read through SEC filings.
Netflix
Tech Business
Netflix vs YouTube: The Real Competition
Netflix vs YouTube competition in television advertising streaming: who wins the living-room screen and the ad dollar, read through both companies' filings.
Tech Business
Netflix Ad-Supported Tier: Why It Changes Everything
The Netflix ad-supported tier isn't a discount: it's a margin-and-TAM play adding a second revenue stream per member. Read Netflix's own filings.