Yes, basic capitalistic economic theory is wrong. Many companies will do whatever it takes to maximize short term profits, as long as they can reasonably get away with that (i.e., not go to jail).

I can't speak to the past, but going forward, information businesses don't need to last forever, they can be useful in "waves". See Myspace/Groupon. Both have fallen out of "favor" but the brands still have value to "late adopters" or maybe even better "those lost to tech". I think we'll see more info businesses do this wave approach that is not about building the next GE, but really about short term exponential capital growth.