Wikia Says It’s Profitable, Goes On Hiring Spree

img src='http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/cp_1265613401_3895v3-max-250x250-215x54.png'class="shot" alt="" /> Wikia , a for-profit group of user generated wiki sites that was founded by Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales in 2004, is now a profitable company. CEO Gil Penchina says the company's revenues grew 4x in 2009 while they kept costs in check. Late last year the company reported strong financial results, but hadn't yet reached true profitability. He won't disclose what revenues are, but the company currently has 40 employees and has open spots for a dozen more, he says (although I only count eight positions on their jobs page ). Wikia sites attracted about 21 million unique worldwide visitors in December (Comscore), and those visitors racked up over 2.7 billion page views. The company attracts around 8 million U.S. visitors monthly, they say.