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FTA: "That’s due in part to the dual-class share structure that savvy tech founders have come to embrace in recent years... with smart management techniques whe

by milesf 10y ago

FTA: "That’s due in part to the dual-class share structure that savvy tech founders have come to embrace in recent years... with smart management techniques when setting up a board to guarantee control in perpetuity." Though "savvy" and "smart" today, tomorrow other words might be used to describe this type of behavior.

stagbeetle 10y ago
> "Though "savvy" and "smart" today, tomorrow other words might be used to describe this type of behavior." Iconoclastic and resolute. Half-jokes aside, why do you think people will have a negative view of this sort of thing, in the future? Its main purpose is to circumvent the short-term groupthink of investors that plagues all modern companies (I'm looking at you, Amazon). Even if this means the CEO sets course for shipwreck (ex. Uber), the people being hurt the most are investors. They'll be seen as populists fighting the fat cats who can't keep their fingers out of everyone's cookie jars.
- soufron 10y ago
  Well, let's just wait how people will react when they will understand that they accepted to invest billions in assholes who got lucky but have as much vision and management skills as a 5 years old kid.
  - bryanrasmussen 10y ago
    I don't know if it's lack of vision and management skills as much as it is lack of a moral compass, and being jerks.
- dastbe 10y ago
  how would you say that investors are forcing short-term groupthink at Amazon?
- michaelt 10y ago
  why do you think people will have a negative view of this sort of thing, in the future? The fear is when there are conflicts between the interests of investors and the interests of the CEO, the CEO will get what he wants and the investors won't. Imagine a company has $x and has to distribute that money between investors' dividends and the CEO's bonus. The more control the CEO has, the larger his slice of the pie. Or perhaps the CEO will decide he really feels like only working 2 days a week. Or he wants to appoint his idiot relative as a senior manager. Or he wants to use employees' time to run a political campaign. Or any of a lot of other things that he likes the sound of, but that investors don't.
- milesf 10y ago
  I'm actually not saying the future will be negative. Maybe it will be. Maybe it won't. But savvy and smart seems a bit too self-congratulating to those who have managed to negotiate this. Like Stan Lee said in Spider-Man "with great power comes great responsibility". If anyone who currently has this type of power abuses it, they could really do some damage to others. Uber's CEO is already throwing a lot of red flags. We shall see what happens.
walshemj 10y ago
Ad some stock exchanges take a dim view of this sort of dual share class the Daily Mails parent company got kicked out of one of the FTSE indexes over this

by milesf 10y ago

stagbeetle 10y ago

> "Though "savvy" and "smart" today, tomorrow other words might be used to describe this type of behavior." Iconoclastic and resolute. Half-jokes aside, why do you think people will have a negative view of this sort of thing, in the future? Its main purpose is to circumvent the short-term groupthink of investors that plagues all modern companies (I'm looking at you, Amazon). Even if this means the CEO sets course for shipwreck (ex. Uber), the people being hurt the most are investors. They'll be seen as populists fighting the fat cats who can't keep their fingers out of everyone's cookie jars.

soufron 10y ago
Well, let's just wait how people will react when they will understand that they accepted to invest billions in assholes who got lucky but have as much vision and management skills as a 5 years old kid.
- bryanrasmussen 10y ago
  I don't know if it's lack of vision and management skills as much as it is lack of a moral compass, and being jerks.
dastbe 10y ago
how would you say that investors are forcing short-term groupthink at Amazon?
michaelt 10y ago
why do you think people will have a negative view of this sort of thing, in the future? The fear is when there are conflicts between the interests of investors and the interests of the CEO, the CEO will get what he wants and the investors won't. Imagine a company has $x and has to distribute that money between investors' dividends and the CEO's bonus. The more control the CEO has, the larger his slice of the pie. Or perhaps the CEO will decide he really feels like only working 2 days a week. Or he wants to appoint his idiot relative as a senior manager. Or he wants to use employees' time to run a political campaign. Or any of a lot of other things that he likes the sound of, but that investors don't.
milesf 10y ago
I'm actually not saying the future will be negative. Maybe it will be. Maybe it won't. But savvy and smart seems a bit too self-congratulating to those who have managed to negotiate this. Like Stan Lee said in Spider-Man "with great power comes great responsibility". If anyone who currently has this type of power abuses it, they could really do some damage to others. Uber's CEO is already throwing a lot of red flags. We shall see what happens.

walshemj 10y ago

Ad some stock exchanges take a dim view of this sort of dual share class the Daily Mails parent company got kicked out of one of the FTSE indexes over this