There’s a difference in private and profit-motivated. The author is referring to the latter while you’re referring strictly to the former. The "private" actors

There’s a difference in private and profit-motivated. The author is referring to the latter while you’re referring strictly to the former. The "private" actors of the early internet were not motivated by profit and conducted a lot of research with no clear product goal. Xerox in particular had a hugely influential research division but directly profited from none of their contributions. In fact the only reason we still use Ethernet is because its inventor pushed Xerox towards giving up its trademark and creating an open standard.