Plus, if the best that Figma can do with a billion dollars is just invest it in Treasuries (and I'm not saying that's the case), then they should just give it to their shareholders and see if they can get a better return. I only point this out because many people are often confused by the effects of higher interest rates, e.g. "Why did this company lay off all these people when they're still profitable?" Your example highlights the reason why perfectly - if you're a company with a billion dollars of investment and the best profit you can muster is $50 million a year, you're a great business if Treasuries are only paying 1%, but when they're paying 5% you should just basically close up shop as people can get the same return just sticking their money in Treasuries.
I think they're saying net income because they're assuming there wasn't any cost for it. But they do have to pay taxes on it, and the lawyers and executives time spent on trying to make the deal work did cost something. Probably much higher margin work than their core business though.
If only you could repeatedly negotiate and then recover breakup fees as a business..
Point is adding $1B on the balance sheet is definitely a plus. How figma uses it is up to them. But yes, companies don't use all the cash right away and do put some of it into short term investments.
Plus, if the best that Figma can do with a billion dollars is just invest it in Treasuries (and I'm not saying that's the case), then they should just give it to their shareholders and see if they can get a better return. I only point this out because many people are often confused by the effects of higher interest rates, e.g. "Why did this company lay off all these people when they're still profitable?" Your example highlights the reason why perfectly - if you're a company with a billion dollars of investment and the best profit you can muster is $50 million a year, you're a great business if Treasuries are only paying 1%, but when they're paying 5% you should just basically close up shop as people can get the same return just sticking their money in Treasuries.