Subject. Features of the platform business, as well as methods of its analysis. Objectives. Development and testing of methods of economic analysis of businesses using digital platforms. Methods. Methods of analysis, synthesis, statistical modeling, systematization and generalization of the obtained results were used. Results. The features of the business model of the platform business, its key characteristics ensuring high growth and efficiency are investigated. A methodology for the economic analysis of digital platforms has been developed, which includes three stages. The first stage analyzes the network effect of platforms and the effects of cost savings and increasing returns. The second stage evaluates the total shareholder return on investments in digital platform companies. At the third stage, the position of digital platform companies in the growth/profitability coordinates is determined. Conclusions. The methodology was tested using the example of public joint–stock companies – digital platforms, which allowed us to draw conclusions about their high growth, decreasing marginality and volatility of total shareholder returns, which vary widely from 33.05% to -37.84%, and largely depends on the implementation of two key effects of platform business – the network effect and the savings effect. The values of the market multipliers of the platform business are decreasing, due to a decrease in the growth rate of platforms and their marginality under the influence of tightening monetary and fiscal policies, as well as the unfulfilled expectations of investors regarding the growth rate of the platform business. The quadrant with high growth and profitability relative to the median values in the growth/profitability matrix includes Yandex, Astra Group, Headhunter, Whoosh Holding, which illustrates their success in developing a platform business model.
Keywords: economic analysis, platform business, business model
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