Earlier quoted context omitted.
If S3 storage pricing was the issue for this startup they could always have gone with their own dedicated servers for storage for a fraction of the cost. For that reason, I doubt a lower S3 cost would have prevented them from shutting down.
Fraction of the cost long-term. Not short term, where they found themselves.
But even renting space by the 1U and leasing servers directly adds surprisingly little overhead.