Bluesky stock: why you can't buy it (yet)

If you've been searching for "Bluesky stock" or wondering how to invest in the Twitter alternative that's captured millions of users' attention, you're not alone. The social network's explosive growth, from 3 million to over 33 million users in less than a year, has investors clamoring for a piece of the action1. But here's the reality check: there is no Bluesky stock to buy, no ticker symbol to track, and no way for regular investors to get in on one of the most interesting experiments in social media since Twitter.

What makes this even more intriguing is that Bluesky isn't another venture-backed startup racing toward an IPO. It's something far more unusual: a Public Benefit Corporation run by a 33-year-old CEO who's building what she calls "billionaire-proof" social media2. And in an industry dominated by advertising dollars and engagement algorithms, Bluesky is charting a radically different course, one that has both thrilled users and puzzled Wall Street.

The anti-Twitter Twitter: understanding Bluesky's structure

To understand why you can't buy Bluesky stock, you first need to understand who owns Bluesky and how it's structured. The company operates as Bluesky Social PBC, a Public Benefit Corporation that legally prioritizes its mission over profit maximization3. This isn't corporate feel-good language; it's baked into the company's DNA and affects every strategic decision.

CEO Jay Graber, who created Bluesky from a Twitter research project, holds the largest ownership stake4. The rest of the equity is distributed among the founding team, employees, and a select group of private investors who bought in during funding rounds. The board includes notable tech veterans like Jeremie Miller (inventor of XMPP/Jabber), Mike Masnick (Techdirt founder), and Kinjal Shah from Blockchain Capital4.

This structure represents a deliberate rejection of the traditional Silicon Valley playbook. As one analysis noted, Bluesky can legally "reinvest profits into its mission of open social networking" rather than maximizing shareholder returns3. For investors, this means accepting that financial returns could take a backseat to social impact, a trade-off that's heretical in growth-obsessed tech circles.

The Jack Dorsey plot twist

The story of who created Bluesky begins with Jack Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder, who conceived the project in 2019 as a way to create an "open and decentralized standard for social media"2. Twitter allocated $13 million to fund the initiative7. But in a dramatic turn that encapsulates the chaos of social media's current era, Dorsey quit Bluesky's board in May 2024, declaring that the platform was "repeating all the mistakes [Twitter] made"8.

Dorsey's departure wasn't a personnel change; it was a philosophical divorce. The Twitter founder had envisioned a more radically decentralized platform, one without content moderation or centralized control. Instead, under Graber's leadership, Bluesky has focused on building what it calls "stackable moderation" and maintaining core trust and safety features3. This split highlights a fundamental tension in Bluesky's identity: How decentralized can a platform be while still providing a safe, functional experience for mainstream users?

Follow the money: Bluesky's funding journey

Despite the lack of publicly traded stock, Bluesky has attracted significant private investment. The company's funding history reveals both its opportunities and its challenges:

First Funding (2022-2023): $13 million from Twitter under Dorsey7

Seed Round (July 2023): $8 million led by Neo, focusing on platform development9

Series A (October 2024): $15 million led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Alumni Ventures and True Ventures7

Current Valuation (January 2025): Approximately $700 million in ongoing funding discussions, reportedly led by Bain Capital Ventures11

This $700 million valuation represents a significant leap from earlier rounds, reflecting the platform's explosive user growth11. However, it also raises questions about sustainability. As one analysis bluntly put it, Bluesky has "zero revenue" and is burning through approximately $1 million per month12. The company "relies on investor capital to keep the lights on" with no clear path to profitability yet established12.

The no-ad revolution: how does Bluesky make money?

Here's where Bluesky's business model gets interesting and problematic. CEO Jay Graber has vowed not to "enshittify" the service with ads13. This isn't marketing speak; it's a fundamental architectural decision. Because Bluesky is built on the open AT Protocol, users can choose their own algorithmic feeds or even run their own servers3. Trying to force ads into this system would be like trying to put billboards in someone's living room; technically possible, but users would route around them.

Instead, Bluesky is developing what it calls a "services-led revenue strategy"3:

Bluesky+ Subscriptions: Coming in 2025, priced around $8 monthly, offering enhanced video uploads, profile customization, and analytics13. Importantly, these features focus on personalization rather than visibility; you can't pay to boost your posts7.

Custom Domains: Through a partnership with Namecheap, users can purchase custom domains to use as their handles (like @yourname.com), providing both personalization and a form of verification3.

Creator Payments: The platform plans to build payment systems allowing users to directly support creators, with Bluesky taking a small percentage13.

Algorithm Marketplace: Most ambitiously, Bluesky envisions a marketplace where developers can sell custom feed algorithms, similar to an app store18.

This approach represents a massive gamble. Traditional social networks generate tens of billions in ad revenue; Meta's family of apps brings in over $40 billion annually12. Bluesky is betting that users will pay for features they get free elsewhere, all while competing against platforms with thousand-times larger marketing budgets.

The user growth explosion

Despite its unconventional approach, Bluesky's growth trajectory has been remarkable:

• February 2024: 3 million users at public launch
• October 2024: 13 million users
• December 2024: 25.9 million users
• January 2025: Over 33 million users12

This represents over 1000% growth since public launch, with particularly dramatic spikes following controversial changes at X (formerly Twitter) and political events like the 2024 U.S. election20. During one post-election period, the platform added over 1 million users per day for several consecutive days12.

However, the engagement metrics tell a more nuanced story. With approximately 4.1 million daily active users against 38 million registered accounts, Bluesky has a daily active user ratio of 11%1. This suggests that while millions are curious enough to sign up, converting them into regular users and paying customers remains a significant challenge.

Investment opportunities for the determined

So how can investors get exposure to Bluesky? The options are limited and come with significant barriers:

Secondary Markets: Platforms like Nasdaq Private Market and UpMarket occasionally offer pre-IPO shares, but these require accredited investor status (typically $200,000+ annual income or $1 million net worth) and minimum investments often starting at $50,00022.

Private Funding Rounds: Participating in official funding rounds requires connections to the company or its lead investors; essentially, if you have to ask, you can't get in.

Future IPO: While no timeline exists, comparisons to other social platforms suggest a public offering could be years away. Facebook took eight years from founding to IPO23.

There's also a cautionary tale: In late 2024, shares of an unrelated Canadian crypto company called "Bluesky Digital Assets" spiked eightfold as confused traders thought it was the social network24. This confusion underscores both the intense investor interest and the importance of understanding that the actual Bluesky Social has no public shares available.

The competitive reality check

Bluesky operates in a brutally competitive landscape. X (formerly Twitter), despite its controversies, still commands hundreds of millions of users20. Meta's Threads rocketed to 300 million users by leveraging Instagram's existing user base20. Even Mastodon, another decentralized alternative, has struggled to break into mainstream adoption despite years of development.

What sets Bluesky apart is the AT Protocol, its secret sauce for creating portable social media accounts3. Users own their data and can move their entire social graph between different apps built on the protocol. It's a powerful vision, but one that requires user adoption and an entire ecosystem of developers building compatible applications.

The billionaire-proof gamble

Jay Graber's vision of "billionaire-proof" social media isn't rhetoric; it's embedded in Bluesky's architecture2. The AT Protocol's decentralized design means that even if Bluesky the company were sold to a billionaire tomorrow, users could take their followers and data to a competing service built on the same protocol. It's a fascinating experiment in platform governance, but it also raises a crucial question: Can you build a valuable company when your users can leave at any moment?

This tension between user empowerment and business sustainability defines Bluesky's investment thesis. The company is betting that by giving users unprecedented control, it can build deeper loyalty and willingness to pay for premium features. But this same openness makes traditional moats (network effects, data lock-in, switching costs) nearly impossible to construct.

The bottom line for investors

Is Bluesky publicly traded? No. Will it be soon? Unlikely. The company faces a triple challenge: proving its subscription model can generate meaningful revenue, maintaining its idealistic vision while satisfying profit-seeking investors, and competing against tech giants with virtually unlimited resources.

For those searching for Bluesky stock, the reality is both disappointing and intriguing. You can't buy shares on any exchange, and even accredited investors face limited opportunities in secondary markets22. But what you're looking at isn't another social media company; it's a test case for whether the internet's original vision of open, user-controlled platforms can survive in the age of tech monopolies.

The $700 million valuation suggests that some smart money believes this experiment will work11. Whether they're right will depend on Bluesky's ability to convert its passionate user base into paying customers, its success in fostering the AT Protocol ecosystem, and whether enough people care about owning their social media experience to pay for the privilege.

Until then, Bluesky remains what it's always been: an idealistic alternative to traditional social media, funded by venture capital, and racing against time to prove that you can build a sustainable business without treating users as the product. For investors, it's a reminder that sometimes the most interesting opportunities are the ones you can't buy yet.