Tim May writes:
> By contrast, many of the dot com startups have nebulous revenue
> models and don't actually _sell_ anything.
>
> (AltaVista is my favorite current example. While it was the first
> impressive Web search engine many of us used, circa 1995, it doesn't
> really sell anything. So, how does it pay for its several hundred
> employees and marketing efforts? True, it tries to sell ad space, but
> this is, in my opinion (and that of many others) a "non-robust"
> revenue model. Seeing a search engine screen cluttered with numerous
> banner ads of no interest to me is not going to cause me to go to the
> advertiser sites. Most folks using a search engine are there for a
> purpose, not to pay attention to Odwalla orange-nectarine juice ads.)
However a good counter-example to this is Yahoo, which has essentially
the same revenue model but has been a tremendous success at it:
: Yahoo! Inc. is a global Internet communications, commerce, and media
: company that offers a branded network of services to millions of users
: daily. For the three months ended 03/00, revenues totaled $228.4 million,
: up from $103.9 million. Net income totaled $77.9 million, up from $1.8
: million. Results reflect an increased number of advertisers purchasing
: space on the Company's online media properties, increasing number of
: events boradcasted, and increased investment income.
