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Comment by sekasi | Hacker News Reader

I'm sorry if I misunderstood this article.. but they took their $70k of profit and donated it to wikimedia, then took all profit from the 'gift' idea and bought an island.

So these dudes essentially give away the vast majority of their profit yeah? What am I missing? Don't get me wrong, it's incredible.. but at the end of the day, very few forms of altruism exists and I feel like I'm overlooking some part of the equation. Where's the sinister ending? :)

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$70k is a very small percentage of their revenue - that's only from their holiday promotion. This 2013 article (roughly) estimates $12m in revenue:

http://voices.suntimes.com/business-2/grid/cards-against-hum...

I'd say nearly every move the CAH folks make is some form of nontraditional marketing. Sure, buying an island may seem like just throwing away profit, but the amount of buzz and fan loyalty generated by that sort of stunt is a big part of what keeps their brand relevant & growing.

You could argue that their entire holiday promotion is really an exercise in marketing, and that they've already written off any profit from it as part of their marketing budget. Their business is selling the boxed card game, rather than gimmicky promotions.

Precisely. Their "brand" is being counter-cultural and edgy, so these antics just help support that and keep them relevant.

These are for the money from holiday promos, not the regular income.

> but at the end of the day, very few forms of altruism exists

[citation needed]

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