I more or less agree with this point, but one possibility is that the companies that currently exist are the ones that can survive long term while turning a pro

I more or less agree with this point, but one possibility is that the companies that currently exist are the ones that can survive long term while turning a profit every quarter (or another "number maximizing" strategy), while what is unseen is an entire class of "long term companies" that focus on things like research into "long tail" prospects. I think from first principles (e.g. just iterating backwards from the first quarter where short-termism has led to long term failures), there's not necessarily a reason to think that this is likely, but I'm not sure it's ruled out by your evidence.