Trust me, break down their stats and I GUARANTEE You will find the bulk of "msn.com"'s traffic is simply from folks who use hot mail... many who don't use any other part of MSN and I bet you dollar to doughnuts many of them had their hotmail accounts before MS even bought the company.
MS on the internet has been a dud, the only "successes" they have are the ones they acquired. Just like MSNBC is a joke on Cable.. MSN on the internet is equally a joke.