4 ms·

So when do we finally get to say, "You're too slimy to be a company anymore."

by s73ver_ 9y ago

circadiam 9y ago
When another company employs more people than them
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
  And provides more customers more value than them.
  - s73ver_ 9y ago
    Does that really matter when that "value" is created by breaking the law?
    - kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
      To the millions of customers around the world? Mostly no. Also, in the court of public opinion, the punishment for breaking laws depends a lot on what the law was, to what effect was it broken, in what circumstances it was broken, and so on.
geofft 9y ago
As soon as our culture decides that sliminess, or literally anything other than profitability, is relevant to whether you can be a company.
- CodeWriter23 9y ago
  IOW, never.
- s73ver_ 9y ago
  So they get to break the law as much as they want, and it's not going to make a difference.
kuschku 9y ago
The big issue with multinational companies is that this isn’t that simple anymore.
davidmr 9y ago
It’s pretty rare, but it does happen every now and then. Arthur Andersen was convicted of criminal obstruction of justice. Because their entire business model was predicated on being trustworthy, they imploded really quickly. (Ironically the damage was mostly done before their conviction was overturned, but they were still guilty as hell.) For Uber, since their business model seems to be completely unrelated to their inherent untrustworthiness, it’s unlikely that a criminal conviction would have such dramatic consequences. The FBI doesn’t fuck around with bribing foreign officials though, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see someone go to the pokey over that. You never know, though. That might be enough to get local governments to ban them. Also some states can apparently sue to have corporations dissolved. https://www.wired.com/story/equifax-deserves-the-corporate-death-penalty/ https://www.wired.com/story/equifax-deserves-the-corporate-d...
curiousDog 9y ago
I doubt that's ever going to happen. Too much money at stake here. And despite all this, they'll have a blockbuster IPO

So when do we finally get to say, "You're too slimy to be a company anymore."

circadiam 9y ago

When another company employs more people than them

kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
And provides more customers more value than them.
- s73ver_ 9y ago
  Does that really matter when that "value" is created by breaking the law?
  - kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
    To the millions of customers around the world? Mostly no. Also, in the court of public opinion, the punishment for breaking laws depends a lot on what the law was, to what effect was it broken, in what circumstances it was broken, and so on.

geofft 9y ago

As soon as our culture decides that sliminess, or literally anything other than profitability, is relevant to whether you can be a company.

CodeWriter23 9y ago
IOW, never.
s73ver_ 9y ago
So they get to break the law as much as they want, and it's not going to make a difference.

kuschku 9y ago

The big issue with multinational companies is that this isn’t that simple anymore.

davidmr 9y ago

It’s pretty rare, but it does happen every now and then. Arthur Andersen was convicted of criminal obstruction of justice. Because their entire business model was predicated on being trustworthy, they imploded really quickly. (Ironically the damage was mostly done before their conviction was overturned, but they were still guilty as hell.) For Uber, since their business model seems to be completely unrelated to their inherent untrustworthiness, it’s unlikely that a criminal conviction would have such dramatic consequences. The FBI doesn’t fuck around with bribing foreign officials though, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see someone go to the pokey over that. You never know, though. That might be enough to get local governments to ban them. Also some states can apparently sue to have corporations dissolved. https://www.wired.com/story/equifax-deserves-the-corporate-death-penalty/ https://www.wired.com/story/equifax-deserves-the-corporate-d...

curiousDog 9y ago

I doubt that's ever going to happen. Too much money at stake here. And despite all this, they'll have a blockbuster IPO