![Facebook 2009 Revenue Was Almost $800 Million [REPORT]](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/archives/07N0QzxQvsO2g7xtBf90yzO/hero-image.fill.size_1248x702.v1647018756.jpg)
Facebook's revenue in 2009 was nearly $800 million and the company turned a part of it into a solid net profit, according to Reuters, who cites two sources familiar with the situation.
The number is significantly higher than earlier 2009 estimates of $500 million, and even the projected $710 million of revenue in 2010. Facebook, as usual, declines to comment on any of these numbers, but we know that it became cash-flow positive in 2009.
"They are downplaying their performance. There's no upside in getting people's expectations high, it's always better to go low," said one of Reuters's sources. It could be true: If Facebook is heading toward an IPO, it's definitely better to be able to show big growth than to boast high numbers now, only to end up unable to beat them later.
If these new estimates are true, this is great news for Facebook, who has been on the ugly side of a privacy-related scandal that ended up reaching the cover of Time magazine and had Mark Zuckerberg, the site's founder and CEO, apologizing for the company's misdeeds. As long as the earnings and growth is strong -- and according to the latest numbers from Compete, Facebook is still growing quite fast -- Facebook will have time to tinker and experiment with privacy to find out how far it can go before causing a real backlash.