They could have take the $85 million because the getting was good and they wanted substantial independence for several years. (This happy funding climate won't last forever.) Or they could have taken it with an intention to spend a lot on marketing. Or they could have done it so they had a war chest for small acquisitions, or for major expansion.
Even if their current burn is over $14 million, which I agree is plausible, I still suspect that they could be in the black on that if they wanted. They have significant server operation costs, but I think even that plus a solid staff would fit.
Gives a very rough estimate of about 50k in server costs for 1 billion page views. That would be $12 million a year in server costs alone.
As of May, they had 178 employees. It is going to take a lot more than $2 million to pay those employees, then you have all the on costs, office space, advertising, etc, etc. I'd be very surprised if they weren't losing more than $15 million a year, and going on those quick calculations + knowing how much money they have raised, I think they're at a net loss of about $40 million a year, or more.
I said "its obvious" based on the rumours they are running out of money plus knowledge of when they last raised money. But doing a quick calculation as shown here throws up the same conclusion.
They could have take the $85 million because the getting was good and they wanted substantial independence for several years. (This happy funding climate won't last forever.) Or they could have taken it with an intention to spend a lot on marketing. Or they could have done it so they had a war chest for small acquisitions, or for major expansion.
Even if their current burn is over $14 million, which I agree is plausible, I still suspect that they could be in the black on that if they wanted. They have significant server operation costs, but I think even that plus a solid staff would fit.