I'm the original author for the blog - the numbers are fake, and were chosen to make the graph interesting :-) Your mileage will vary!
Note also that you pay upfront for acquisition but your revenue base builds up over time - the more momentum you get, the better off you are.
It is however true that a lot of businesses that rely on paid acquisition end up with low margins - just look into the leadgen industry as a good example of this. This is particularly true in the Google Adwords world where auctions systematically drive up prices.
That said, if you can pay $80k and get $120k out, and that scales up to LOTS of revenue, then making $1.2B in revenue per year on $800M in cost may not be that bad. Certainly better than a lot of businesses.
Note also that you pay upfront for acquisition but your revenue base builds up over time - the more momentum you get, the better off you are.
It is however true that a lot of businesses that rely on paid acquisition end up with low margins - just look into the leadgen industry as a good example of this. This is particularly true in the Google Adwords world where auctions systematically drive up prices.
That said, if you can pay $80k and get $120k out, and that scales up to LOTS of revenue, then making $1.2B in revenue per year on $800M in cost may not be that bad. Certainly better than a lot of businesses.