

21 profiles of profitable businesses - jpwagner
http://nymag.com/news/features/2007/profit

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psyklic
This is a really fascinating sequence of articles discussing the ins and outs
of businesses we see every day and always wonder about their market and
profitability -- who knew that cabbies pay $18,000/yr on gas? Or that
insurance for a yoga studio is only $90/mo? Or that the least profitable
customers for a diner are the elderly, since they're more likely to return
food?

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rivo
I find it particularly interesting that most of the businesses covered here
run at a profit margin of about 10%. I guess it is safe to say that many of us
believe that the margins of successful software/Internet businesses can be
much higher than that. At the same time, when seeing these examples, I wonder
how realistic this is for the average profitable startup.

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joubert
It would be interesting to see the numbers for 2009; this article is dated
2007.

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telegraph
Yes, a fact I didn't realize until the section on Goldman Sachs referred to
the more favorable levels of risk carried by Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

