A key phrase is "up until the COVID era." Even if you took that as the only economic factor (and that is far from the case), respectfully, that doesn't matter. Things are what they are. When revenue plunges, and doesn't fully bounce back, the wins you had before are great for nostalgia, but nothing more. We don't live in a fairy tale world where undefined "people who made a fortune" decades ago are under some obligation to "pay it back."
The audience is migrating, or splintering if you prefer. The idea that anyone, no matter what they supposedly made 30 years back should fund everything to be exactly what it was before is just absurd from a business standpoint.