5 Tech Companies Making Money Amidst the Economic Gloom

Techwriter10 0 440 Views

The economic news has been so bad of late, it's actually difficult to imagine that some businesses are profitable. It's easy to get sucked into the abyss of huge layoffs, high unemployment figures and generally negative fall-out from the economic meltdown, but in spite of all this, there are technology companies that are making boat loads of cash and doing just fine.

One caveat here: Earnings can be interpreted in a number of ways. It seems either you made money or you didn't, but there are a number of factors that go into this. With that in mind, I give you give you five tech companies making money:

1. Apple

As incredible as it may seem, a company that sells expensive consumer electronics is making money in the worst recession in 50 years, but Macworld reports that Apple had record profits last quarter. In fact, it made more money last quarter (over $10 billion dollars) than in any quarter in its impressive history. I wrote about Apple's dazzling performance in Zune & iPod: A Tale of Two MP3 Players and The Economy May Stink, but Apple Comes Out Smelling Like a Rose.

2. Akamai

The content delivery network company (CDN) may not be a household name, but it helps deliver the content of some of the world's biggest web sites. Its extensive customer list includes Adobe, MTV Network and Fox Interactive (to name just a few). that Akamai surprise analysts by posting record revenue last quarter, a 16 percent year over year increase.

3. Open Text

Open Text is a content management company, which had itself a fine most-recent quarter. It reported profits were up 14 percent over the same time period last year and this is a company that sells large-scale enterprise software solutions, the kind that are supposedly being cut right now. Yet Open Text has continued to thrive in this hostile atmosphere.

4. Amazon

You might expect that Amazon.com would have taken a big hit along with the rest of the retail sector in the last quarter, but you would be wrong. PaidContent.org reports that Amazon had decent growth of 9 percent driven by demand for its eBook reader, the Kindle.

5. IBM

Big Blue had itself a nice quarter again proving that companies are not scaling back all large hardware and software projects as you would expect in times like these. ZDNet.co.uk reports that IBM profits were up a healthy 12 percent from the previous year's quarterly earnings.

So there you have it: five companies making money amidst the horrible economic backdrop and I didn't even have to search that hard to find these. Of course during my research I came across companies that had terrible quarters, but there is certainly positive news out there and it helps to know that it's not all gloom and doom.

Dani AI

Generated

This thread is a useful snapshot from the 2008-2010 downturn showing that not all tech firms shrink. As noted, some large players reported resilience, and subsequent replies picked up on quality products and steady service demand. The short expert note below gives evergreen context for why certain tech businesses hold up in recessions and a compact checklist for judging resilience.

Structural advantages that help a tech company survive or even prosper in a downturn: recurring revenue and long-term contracts give predictable cash flows; digital delivery and high gross margins let incremental revenue drop straight to the bottom line; infrastructure and mission-critical services are harder for customers to cut; strong cash reserves allow continued investment or opportunistic M&A; and a shift from one-time hardware sales toward services and subscriptions reduces cyclicality. These are broad, model-level traits rather than company-specific claims.

Indicators of resilience include:

  • Recurring revenue share: subscriptions, maintenance, or ARR provide visibility.
  • Margin profile: consistently high gross margin means small revenue dips hurt profits less.
  • Cash and leverage: positive free cash flow or net cash balances provide a buffer.
  • Customer mix and contract length: low customer concentration and long contracts reduce churn risk.
  • Product role: essential infrastructure or productivity tools are stickier than discretionary consumer gadgets.
  • Cost flexibility: ability to scale variable costs down (or defer spend) preserves cash.
  • Operational KPIs: low churn, stable bookings, and predictable renewal rates matter more than headline sales.

Echoing , quality and brand loyalty matter; echoing , service businesses that fulfill ongoing administrative or operational needs can prosper during cutbacks. Historical examples are informative, not definitive: business models and market dynamics evolve, so compare any past resilience to the companys current revenue mix, balance sheet and contract terms before drawing conclusions.

Member Avatar for consystant
consystant 0 Newbie Poster

Good to know that there are still companies out there that are making money. Hopefully all companies will be doing well in the near future.

Member Avatar for Fazza
Fazza 0 Light Poster

It just goes to show that if you have a quality product then even in an economic downturn a company like Apple can make money.

IBM have gone from strength-to-strength since they got out of the laptop and desktop market and concentrating more on 'services'.

Member Avatar for Techwriter10
Techwriter10 42 Practically a Posting Shark

I actually wrote this post a year ago. I'm sure there are many more companies making a profit now, so much so that it's not worthy of pointing out in a blog post, and that's good news indeed.

Thanks for your comments.
Ron

Member Avatar for NickyW
NickyW 0 Newbie Poster

There's plenty of companies that do well in tough times, usually ones with a solid foundation of loyal customers. I always remember a quote in the simpsons when a tech company that bart was working for goes down the tubes and the guy clearing out the office says "yeah but business is booming for us repo guys".
My friend works for a virtual receptionist company which has also done well as many companies are scaling back, laying people off etc but still need calls answered and admin done.

Member Avatar for rayfrank
rayfrank 0 Newbie Poster

The information given by here about the multinational companies for the proper and perfect information for the technology.These are the very clean and informative data about these companies.I like to say thanks about because in this era these companies are in the top list because its technology.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.

Edit Preview