Probably several hundred thou members, but fewer writing regularly and fewer paying. We all probably have read at least one post by quite a few of the active members or have at least seen their names slip by.

So I'm not sure there is a whole ton of money coming in. My guess is that Ev is still putting money into it.

As to his motives, only he knows. Some think he wants to duplicate his Twitter success. Others think he wants a democratic writing platform. Still others thinks he wants a showcase platform of the famous and influential.

Shrug. No point in guessing, is there?