The year 2019 was a reversal exercise for Forocoches, the most widely read internet forum in Spanish in the world, which currently has more than 836,000 registered users.
A business that has grown non-stop in recent years to the satisfaction of its founder and owner, Alejandro Marín, better known as Electrik among foreros.
A trend that last year suffered a sudden stop, as reflected in the annual accounts of Link World Network, the society behind the successful forum and which has Marín as its sole administrator.
Forocoches' revenue suffered its first drop in seven years.
These fell by 27%, going from almost 1.5 million euros to about 1.1, returning to the levels at which it closed 2017. You have to go to 2012 to find the last drop in the turnover of Link World Network, although at that time Forocoches barely had a turnover of just over 400,000 euros, less than half that of today.
The ceiling touched it in 2018 with those 1.5 million entered, mainly thanks to advertising and that user registration is free, although this requires an invitation from another user.
The fall in turnover also caused a decline in profits, although to a lesser extent.
Forocoches generated a net profit of 669,700 euros, 19% less.
These were destined to fatten the reserves of the society, which exceeded four million.
The result suffered less than the turnover in part due to a reduction in costs, especially in the heading of "other operating expenses", which reduced its invoice by 55% to 133,600 euros.
Usually companies constituted with a sole administrator include in this section the remuneration that he designates for his tasks in the company.
The Link World Network accounts do not detail the origin of that amount, or others, as they are formulated in an abbreviated form.
The company did not have employees at the end of the year, but it did have a salaried person during the year, who earned a salary of 24,855 euros.