Canonical, the legal entity around Ubuntu Linux, is still operating at a loss of millions of dollars each year. Making the rounds on the Internet this morning is Canonical's UK financial report for the 2013 fiscal year.
Canonical's 2013 fiscal year ended 31 March 2013 but
their annual report was just finished last month and is just making highlights on the web today. Their financial overview is just covering their UK activities.
For Canonical's FY2013 they operated at a loss of $21.3 million dollars, which is a loss of $10 million dollars greater than the prior year. While they are still operating in the red, their reported revenues were up to $65.7 million over $56.8 million in 2012. Of the $65.7 million they pulled in during 2013, 15 million was from their operations in the UK, just over two million was from their European activities, and 48 million was drawn from the rest of the world.
Canonical's highest paid director in 2014 took hope $424,334, which is an increase of $360,000 in the year prior. Canonical's gross profit came in at just over $60 million dollars and they paid $272,000 dollars in taxes. Back around 2009 they were pulling in just about $30 million dollars, so their revenues are certainly increasing, but in March it will have been a decade that Canonical was formed and they are still not turning a profit.
It will be interesting to see how long Mark Shuttleworth is willing to let Canonical operate at a loss or how long before they are cash flow positive. Right now they mostly seem to be putting all of their eggs into the mobile/converged devices bet for playing their next hand while they are still raking in money from their enterprise offerings, the Ubuntu Advantage program for OEM/ODMs, and other business services.
