<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by UALOneKPlus:
I believe FlyerTalk makes plenty O' Money already 
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I suspect that
Randy may make "plenty O' Money" from his various enterprises. He seems a rather savvy small businessman.
The question of whether
Flyertalk makes money, on the other hand, is likely a different matter. IIRC, Randy
has said
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We'll proably be able to take in $30k this year in online advertising and my expenses for the WebFlyer Network run about $70-80k per year.</font>
Now, I don't know how the accounting on this works. I suspect that separating costs out for Flyertalk versus the rest of Webflyer (which presumably is much smaller, pushes far less data) is not an easy task. And I don't know whether the cost figures include staff time, allocated overhead, etc. So the "real" costs could be far higher or far lower. However, I don't think there's any reasonable way to suggest that Flyertalk.com makes money.
On the other hand, Flyertalk is likely a win-win proposition for Randy and for us. It's a great gift for the community. It no doubt also raises Randy's profile and stature in the community of frequent flyers. And the information we all share certainly is helpful to Randy in his businesses.
Inside Flyer staff regularly solicit our input for upcoming articles, for instance. And clearly Randy enjoys what he does, and that includes Flyertalk (member bickering notwithstanding). Lots of synergies here.
Like I said, Randy is a pretty shrewd small businessman. He's also very generous.
Randy has also said (same referenced thread)
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I've probably posted no less than several dozen times that there has never been a goal of FlyerTalk to make money. That mantra started five years ago and continues today. On occasion we will try and off set some of our costs, but not enough to try and break even or to "make money..." as you say. To date, I've got into the six figures invested in FlyerTalk, and that is net of anything that has come our way from occasional advertising. Actually, it's more than that if I include the monetary and other support we have given back to the community such as dinners, bar tabs, free t-shirts (I have hanfing in front of my desk the "Party in Provence" custom t-shirts we paid for that FT gathering back in Sept. 2001, etc. As noted before and it continues - I gladly have and will continue to provide this and more to a community i still feel part of.</font>
So when folks feel that they want to share back with Randy in some
mutually beneficial way I think it's an admirable impulse.
Of course, Randy is also welcome not to take folks up on the offer. And he hasn't asked for this kind of support. Personally, I believe his motives are good and genuine though goodness sakes it would be
wonderful, I think, if he could make some money off of this enterprise!
Oh well. Rambling without a point I guess. But off the cuff comments like the above seem to imply something disingenuous of our host, and I guess that bothers me a little.