I don't know the correct answer, but I am going to find out. Criteria: 1. Company has to be public. 2. It never had a profitable year. (quarters don't count) #2 can not be due to an accounting trick. My 3 best guesses: Tesla, Pandora, Netflix. Honorable mention of Reddit although Reddit is private, but it is absolutely in no hurry to even trying to be profitable. Pandora: Started in 2000, public since 2011. Netflix: Started in 1997, IPO in 2002. Tesla: Started in 2003, IPO in 2010. Twitter: Started in 2006, IPO in 2013. Looks like Netflix is still king, but if you know any other contenders, please post it. Probably we will have 2 categories, since inception and since going public, although Netflix is killing it in both.
Don't think they'll beat NFLX, but ZN started in 2000-2002 and listed in 2006. Haven't found any commercial oil yet so I'm pretty sure they never made any profits but I can't easily see all the way back.
I’m having trouble figuring out when NFLX finally started making profit. It’s obscured by the cash flow issue. Can you explain if and when NFLX finally started making profit?
It is easy, never. They might have had a profitable quarter here and there due to opening up new countries and such, but on an annual base they never made profits.