How are the world's major e-commerce, mobile apps, entertainment, social media, search, and hardware companies making profits? A new infographic released by Seer Interactive reveals their revenue streams (click on each circle; on the original, you can filter by segment). 

Who's not profitable? That camp includes tumblr, which was acquired by Yahoo! for over $1 billion, yet had only $16.6 million in cash at time of acquisition, and Spotify, which artists say doesn't pay well. (Also, not all marked as profitable here are actually in the black; Groupon, for one, is still posting a (shrinking) net loss). 

For entrepreneurs in the Middle East, an acquisition like tumblr's is perhaps less likely without a history of profitability. Yet the path to profit, and growth, via these basic revenue streams will become easier as infrastructure improves; as payment gateways expand, more logistics options come on board, ad spend grows, especially on video, and mobile operators and banks can enable mobile payments. Check out the companies below to see how these global giants have done it.