Ubuntu Founder Mark Shuttleworth admitted today his company is not cash flow positive. That’s despite the fact that Chris Kenyon, director of business development at Canonical told me that Canonical has 8 million users and growing revenues.
On a conference call with press and analysts today, Shuttleworth said some really amazing things about his business and it’s lack of currently profitability and his view that the money isn’t on the Linux desktop.
“Canonical is not Cash positive,” Shuttleworth said. ” I think we could be cash positive if we focus on the core and scaled back.”
Shuttleworth added that he expect Canonical will require another three to five years worth of funding.
“We continue to require investment and I keep being careful with my pennies making those investments, ” Shuttleworth said.
So though Canonical is generating revenue, they aren’t yet profitable. Even more interesting is while Shuttleworth is a big believer in the Linux desktop he also admitted that isn’t where he’s going to make his money back.
“We can’t make money selling the desktop that’s why we focused on a zero licensing cost business model,” Shuttleworth said. “The only way to build a business on Linux is to focus on services.”
