Not every company burned out in the dotcom supernova. The few companies that built businesses around large and sustain- able numbers of customers are still in business, most notably Amazon and eBay. Amazon reported a net profit for the first time from its sales in the last quarter of 2001 and has many loyal customers;
Between the beginning of November and mid- December 2002, for example, it took nearly 48m orders. eBay, meanwhile, persuaded visitors to its auction sites to do business worth nearly $15 billion in 2002, slicing off enough commission from its sales to sustain its vigorous growth and acquisitions policy.
Yahoo, one of the very few companies to build a successful business from a portal strategy, has had a leaner time, but it is in better shape than it was in early 2001, when it announced plans to lay off 12% of its work force. Long reliant on advertising for most of its revenue.
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