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Comparing this to total revenue does not make much sense. Instead, you need to look at the profit margin on this incremental revenue.
How much extra does it cost to run this paid checkmark scheme vs not running it? If, for example, operating margin of this individual program is, say, 50% (and this is in my mind underestimate, given that they already implemented the check feature, and the anti spam and prioritizing feature is extension of the rating and recommendation system they already built anyway), that $400M in revenue is $200M in additional profit, which would increase their operating profit by something like 80%. That’s a huge increase in profit on equity.
One must always be thinking in the marginal terms. Given your finance background, I was rather surprised by your comment.
This is true, but on the flip side one must also consider the cost in distraction for decision makers + potential liability. Most tech companies do. A tiny side business might be profitable, but many big companies will shut it down anyway simply because it's a distraction from their main business.
My strong suspicion is that this is just about inflating away the value of journalist's special badge of coolness and exclusivity.
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