Mainstream companies were not spending marketing money on the internet until much later.
The point I am getting at, is that if Amazon and similar companies had ads on Yahoo and was making money profitably from it, that is different from a startup who is burning VC money on ads on the hope of making money in the future.
I'm guessing you didn't live through the dotcom bubble. No one was making money on the Internet, not even Amazon.
Please can you provide a source for that, as it is an extraordinary claim.
eBay made a profit in 1998: https://investors.ebayinc.com/investor-news/press-release-de...
It took me 30 seconds to find this example, sure there are many more.
It is very since you didn't experience it, and seem completely oblivious to what was going on. I wouldn't argue history with someone who had actually lived it.
eBay made a profit in 1998: https://investors.ebayinc.com/investor-news/press-release-de....
Ebay was an exception. There weren't any (many?) others. Try again: maybe you want to Google "Boo.com", "Webvan", and "many more." Archive.org "fuckedcompany.com". Or read the PG article about Yahoo.
All I am asking for is some references for these extraordinary claims, otherwise I am going to assume it is "possibly true" folklore.
I enjoyed the 90's BTW.
Or learn how to use Google and pay attention to information that is handed to you.