“I have no interest in trying to play games with numbers,” says Willard Ahdritz. “Like Amazon, we have been investing, investing, investing and growing. Of course, profitability, when you have investments, will suffer.

But I have some of the smartest financial and technology investors in the world.”

One of those investors is European venture fund Balderton Capital. Balderton partner Tim Bunting also serves as Kobalt chairman and, despite Kobalt failing to turn a profit after 17 years of operation, insists ...