The Internet as a tool to build real companies rather than make quick riches is the message at this year's World Economic Forum, in stark contrast to the Web exuberance that reigned a year ago.
Some of the world's most prominent business leaders who have gathered at the ski resort in the Swiss alps admitted they had been guilty of greed which had brought huge wealth to some, but large losses to many others.
"We've seen too much greed, including from ourselves. People thought that a 30 per cent profit on investments was easy and 100 per cent was possible," said Mr Hasso Plattner, co-chief executive of Germany's SAP, the world's largest enterprise software maker.
His company jumped on the Internet bandwagon two years ago and lost $250 million in the process.
Like so many others, SAP ventured into business-to-consumer Web companies which never turned into a profit.
"The business model was taken from Utopia," Mr Plattner admitted.
The sobering picture he painted is a far cry from the upbeat mood that dictated the millennium's first meeting of the forum, 12 months ago, when the Internet bubble was just two months away from bursting and when investors readily valued a single user of a free Internet Service Provider at 10,000 euros or more.
Reuters