This reminds me a lot of PG&#x27;s essay on how Yahoo was a beneficiary of its own advertising bubble that it created in the 90s:<p>&gt; By 1998, Yahoo was the beneficiary of a de facto Ponzi scheme. Investors were excited about the Internet. One reason they were excited was Yahoo&#x27;s revenue growth. So they invested in new Internet startups. The startups then used the money to buy ads on Yahoo to get traffic. Which caused yet more revenue growth for Yahoo, and further convinced investors the Internet was worth investing in.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.paulgraham.com&#x2F;yahoo.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.paulgraham.com&#x2F;yahoo.html</a>