Studying Microsoft when its revenues and profits were expanding rapidly ( I'm thinking late 1980s ) is instructive on the massive potential when a monopoly takes hold. A lot of people questioned Microsoft's leadership back then, but there was more then a decade of good times to go. That's like any business idea, if you can be first to market and establish prominance, the profits are immense.
This reminds me of the ruby emerald diamond the ruler living in the Taj Mahal had that could have been sold and feed the entire world population for 7 days. I believe it was between 500 bc to 300 bc, thinking 337-333 BC.