It is true, search was not a business. Back then, most startups depended on DoubleClick banner ads for revenue generation (just as today most startups depend on Adsense). DoubleClick was not a viable business model and Google considered that to be their very last option.
Google was running thin on cash until they finally adopted Bill Gross' GoTo.com advertising model (aka Overture) in 2000. So for the first 2 years, Google was a cash cow with no business model around its search either.
Don't forget, Myhrvold is the man who completely missed the Internet while he was the CTO at MS. Were it not for BillG, who realized what Internet represented, MS would have been toast.
No wonder he got kicked out of MS and no wonder that he spends his post-MS days playing a patent troll.
