Substack says it can be profitable, but it still isn’t.

Substack remains unprofitable, despite attracting some of the biggest names in the independent author world, who have built up a large digital subscriber base for the platform through newsletters and blogs. Hamish McKenzie, one of the founders of Substack, said New York times You could choose profitability, but instead you’re focused on “investing in the business and sustaining growth.”

According to timesX owner Elon Musk proposed acquiring Substack during a call with CEO Chris Best in April 2023.. Musk even proposed appointing Best as the ‘CEO of the merged company,’ but Best reportedly refused.

SubStack has been making the argument for years that you can choose to be profitable if you want to be. Best quotes from Nilay Patel decoder He thought the company could become profitable “quickly” in 2020 if costs didn’t increase. But “the focus has always been on being very comfortable defaulting.” That is, increasing and collecting investments. He also said, “…if we don’t raise money, the company will go out of business.”

that times It details some of the recent moves the company has taken to grow its business and raise capital. This includes raising money from writers (something Axios report It did so again recently), launched its own Twitter competitor, Notes, and has done well on the platform by betting on political content. that times Mehdi Hasan writes that it is a political media outlet hosted by Substack. Jeteo It ranks fifth on the political leaderboard, generating “approximately $3.9 million in revenue” annually.