The Internet Is Serious Business: 13 Internet Memes That Make Money

From Leave Britney Alone to Billy Mays, memes on the Internet have served as more than just entertainment for compulsive e-mail forwarders, they have influenced and created business opportunities both online and off and given existing businesses a boost. Anytime you stumble upon a LOLcat or rickroll a friend, you are participating in phenomenons that have not only reached millions of people, but have helped make celebrities out of regular people. Memes provide us with comfort in knowing that anyone, anywhere can reach the masses at any given moment. In some cases Internet memes have led to big business, while in others opportunities vanished as soon as the next meme came along.