A profitless venture is one that won’t sustain itself in the long run. Small business owners as it is often take home less than minimum wage for the hours they put in when you factor in what they receive at the end of the year. Medium business owners often have it rougher because they’re in that awkward place in the market where they have both a high headcount and low margins.

Big businesses can often do what they want within reason, but it’s not like every corporate out there is Apple with massive margins to work with. Big businesses also fail, or have to sell off profitless parts of their business, or get taken over by some holding company.

Also: it doesn’t matter what you or I would prefer them to do. The owners of a business are going to look at their costs, the economics of the market and make a determination for themselves. If they’re put in a position where they have to raise prices just to continue earning a small profit at all, and they lose enough customers, then they’re just going to go out of business anyway.