A business is worth the sum of future profits, discounted for time (because making money today is better than making money tomorrow). Negative profits today are fine as long as they are offset by future profits tomorrow. This should make intuitive sense.

And this is still true when the investment won't pay off for a long time. For example, governments worldwide provide free (or highly subsidized) schooling to all children. Only when the children become taxpaying adults, 20 years or so later, does the government get a return on their investment.

Most good things in life require a long time horizon. In healthy societies people plant trees that won't bear fruit or provide shade for many years.