Suddenly, what was a perfectly viable, profitable business is now working really hard just to exist.
Yet these inferior products and services seemingly decimate an industry leader who keeps on making very profitable, perfectly good products better and better, outstripping the needs and pocketbooks of already well-served consumers.
Other forms of speculation may be perfectly reasonable, and even highly profitable much of the time, but their societal benefit is far less clear.
It's perfectly acceptable (and possibly quite profitable) to focus a website on funny meme photos, or listicles, or outrageous headlines, but we shouldn't confuse this with the kind of journalism sorely needed in our society.
Poppy farming is considered a perfectly legitimate line of agricultural work, especially by the businessmen who find it so profitable.
It's a profitable business, but the hotel has taken advantage of a series of perfectly legal tax reliefs to ensure its corporation tax bill was zero.
In a statement, they said, "The Times is not for sale" and stressed that the company was "profitable and generates very strong cash flow, which we believe makes us perfectly able to fund our future growth".
But penalty rates are a matter for the Fair Work Commission, and people are perfectly entitled to bring applications to the Fair Work Commission to ensure that their businesses are profitable and they can continue to maximise employment".
And it had to be, because UrbanSpoon was perfectly happy continuing to grow its business on its own, as it was already fairly profitable, Lowry tells me.
"Particularly in these difficult economic times," Mr. Koppel wrote, "it is perfectly understandable that Disney would jump at the opportunity to increase earnings by replacing 'Nightline' with the more profitable David Letterman show".
