Potentially unwanted programs (PUP) are a category of undesirable software which includes adware and rogueware. PUP is often distributed through commercial pay-per-install (PPI) services. In this work we perform what we believe is the first analysis of the economics of commercial PPI services. To enable the economic analysis, we propose a novel attribution approach using entity graphs that capture the network of companies and persons behind a PUP operation, e.g., a commercial PPI service or a set of PUP. We analyze 3 Spain-based operations. Each operation runs a commercial PPI service, develops PUP, and manages download portals. For each operation, we collect financial statements submitted by the companies and audit reports when available. This data allows us to analyze not only the operation revenues, but also their profits (and losses), which can widely differ from revenues depending on operational costs. Our analysis answers 6 main questions. (1) How profitable are the commercial PPI services and the operations running them? We measure that the three operations have a total revenue of 202.5M €, net income (i.e., profits) of 23M €, and EBITDA of 24.7M €. Overall, expenses are high and margins low. (2) What are the revenue sources of the operations? The largest source of revenue is the PPI service, which provides up to 90% of an operation’s revenue. But, we also observe the operations to draw revenue from advertising, download portals, PUP, and streaming services. (3)How has the PPI business evolved over time? Peak revenue and net income happened in 2013 and there was a sharp decrease starting mid-2014 when different vendors deployed new defenses that significantly impacted the PPI market, which did not recover afterwards. (4) How many companies are involved in an operation? We find that each operation runs from 15 up to 32 companies, but most of them are shell companies. (5) How many persons are involved in an operation? We find that a small number of 1–6 persons manage each operation. (6) How long have the operations been active? Operations start as early as 2003, but the PPI services do not operate until 2010–2011.