The internet revolution was pronounced dead at the World Economic Forum yesterday as industry figures downgraded the net to the status of a business tool that is not immune to old-fashioned economic realities, writes Peter Capella.

Tim Koogle, chief executive of Yahoo!, one of the most consistently profitable internet ventures, said large companies would survive and there would be space at the other end of the scale for small, niche-based, companies provided they did not rely on borrowed capital, but "nothing in-between".

Hasso Plattner, chief executive of SAP, the world's largest enterprise software maker, said: "We've seen too much greed, including from ourselves. People thought that a 30% profit on investments was easy and 100% was possible."

The downbeat assessment was in stark contrast to euphoria at last year's forum.