Slack
If you work in an office setting, chances are you’ve used Slack to message your co-worker. The business communications platform was founded in 2009 and went public in June 2019. It was valued at $23 billion at the time, but its value has dipped since then.
In the third quarter of the 2020 fiscal year, Slack reported operating losses of $95 million — 56% of its total revenue.
Why Slack Isn’t Profitable
As with many of the other companies on this list, Slack’s biggest obstacle to profitability is its operating costs. High sales and marketing costs accounted for a large portion of its total operating expenses in fiscal year 2019. However, some experts believe the company is on the path to profitability.
“The company is a classic tech company with scalability,” Jay Ritter, an IPO expert and professor at the University of Florida, told Reuters. “There is the potential for profitability in the next few years, with rapidly growing profits after that.”
