pinterest-financials

Pinterest Financials

Business / By / March 30, 2023

Revenue:

  • 2017 to 2018: 60% growth, increasing from $0.472 billion to $0.755 billion
  • 2018 to 2019: 51% growth, rising from $0.755 billion to $1.14 billion
  • 2019 to 2020: 48% growth, expanding from $1.14 billion to $1.69 billion
  • 2020 to 2021: 53% growth, climbing from $1.69 billion to $2.58 billion
  • 2021 to 2022: 8.5% growth, reaching $2.8 billion in 2022, with a slower growth rate compared to previous years

Net Income/Loss:

  • 2017: Net loss of $130 million
  • 2018: Net loss reduced to $63 million, showing an improvement of 52%
  • 2019: Significant net loss of $1.36 billion, a drastic increase in loss compared to 2018
  • 2020: Net loss reduced to $128 million, an improvement of 91% compared to 2019
  • 2021: First net income of $316 million, marking a positive turnaround in profitability
  • 2022: Net loss of $96 million, returning to a negative result, but still showing a 70% improvement compared to 2019’s most significant loss

Connected Business Models

Pinterest Business Model

pinterest-business-model
Pinterest makes money by selling advertising for marketers and companies that can gain visibility for their brands and more sales for their shops. In 2022, Pinterest generated $2.8 billion in advertising revenue, with 450 million monthly active users and a net loss of $96 million.  

Instagram Business Model

instagram-business-model
Instagram makes money via visual advertising. Acquired by Facebook for a billion-dollar in 2012, today, Instagram is integrated into the overall Facebook (now rebranded as Meta) business strategy. In 2018, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger left the company as Facebook pushed toward tighter integration of the two platforms. In 2022, Instagram is the most successful product still, in Meta’s portfolio.

TikTok Business Model

tiktok-business-model
TikTok makes money through advertising. It is estimated that ByteDance, its owner, made $51 billion in 2021 in revenues. TikTok instead generated $11 billion in advertising in 2022, 3.3 billion downloads, and 1.2 billion monthly active users in 2021. TikTok, therefore, is a multi-billion company worth anywhere between $100 and-150 billion and among the most valuable social media platforms on earth.

Spotify Business Model

spotify-business-model
Spotify is a two-sided marketplace where artists and music fans engage. Spotify has a free ad-supported service and a paid membership. Founded in 2008 with the belief that music should be universally accessible, it generated €11.7 billion in 2022. Of these revenues, 87.4% or €10.25 billion came from premium memberships, while over 12.6% or €1.47 billion came from ad-supported members. By 2022, Spotify had 489 million users, of which 205 million premium members and 295 million ad-supported users.

WhatsApp Business Model

how-does-whatsapp-make-money
Founded in 2009 by Brian Acton, Jan Koum WhatsApp is a messaging app acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19B. In 2018 WhatsApp rolled out customers’ interaction services, starting to make money on slow responses from companies. And Facebook also announced conversations on WhatsApp prompted by Facebook Ads.

Reddit Business Model

how-does-reddit-make-money
Reddit is a social news and discussion website that also rates web content. The platform was created in 2005 after founders Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman met venture capitalist Paul Graham and pitched the company as the “front page of the internet.” Reddit makes money primarily via advertising. It also offers premium membership plans.

Twitter Business Model

how-does-twitter-make-money
Twitter makes money in two ways: advertising and data licensing. In 2021, Twitter generated $4.5 billion from advertising and $570 million from data licensing. While Twitter generated $5 billion in total revenues, it lost 221 million.

Telegram Business Model

telegram-business-model
Telegram is a messaging app emphasizing privacy and encryption, launched in 2013. It doesn’t make money yet, while it raised over $1.7 billion in Initial Coin Offerings throughout 2018, halted by the SEC in 2019. Telegram wants to keep the app 100% free while trying to sustain its growth.

Snapchat Business Model

snapchat-business-model
Snapchat is a camera company which business model moves across three industries: social media, content marketing, and AR. Snapchat generates most of its revenue from several ad formats (AR Ads, Snap Ads, Sponsored Geolifters, and Sponsored Lenses). The company also produces Spectacles, a set of AR glasses enabling content creators to produce interactive experiences through Snapchat. 

Facebook Business Model

facebook-business-model
Facebook, the main product of Meta is an attention merchant. As such, its algorithms condense the attention of over 2.91 billion monthly active users as of June 2021. Meta generated $117.9 billion in revenues, in 2021, of which $114.9 billion from advertising (97.4% of the total revenues) and over $2.2 billion from Reality Labs (the augmented and virtual reality products arm). 

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About The Author

Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
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