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Yes, but what about when the shareholders are also mostly Americans? Big corporations tend to operate in their stock's best interest, and this can still cause s

by gphil 16y ago

Yes, but what about when the shareholders are also mostly Americans? Big corporations tend to operate in their stock's best interest, and this can still cause serious problems for their shareholders.

chadmalik 16y ago
Your thesis is contradicted by a massive amount of real world data.
- gphil 16y ago
  What I meant by my initial comment is in no way contradictory on its face, nor contradicted by any amount of real world data. Allow me to clarify with a simple example: Consider the case of a shareholder invested in a company behaving in anti-competitive behavior that negatively effects the market as a whole. Now suppose the same shareholder owns many stocks across the market. This is clearly a loss for the shareholder, and a win for the company only. That's what I was trying to express.
Nwallins 16y ago
> Big corporations tend to operate in their stock's best interest, and this can still cause serious problems for their shareholders. Erm, what? This seems contradictory on its face. The shareholder's only interest in a company is its stock performance, be it stock price or dividend payments. What sort of tendencies are you thinking of, here?
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  > The shareholder's only interest in a company is its stock performance, I think this is where you and he differ. For instance, I'm a Microsoft shareholder. (2 shares, but still...) Many Microsoft decisions since the mid-90s (when I first started holding MSFT) have made life overall worse for me, even if they may have increased the value of the stock I held.
  - Nwallins 16y ago
    > Many Microsoft decisions since the mid-90s (when I first started holding MSFT) have made life overall worse for me That has nothing to do with your being a shareholder.
    - steveklabnik 16y ago
      You're right. There's no causation there... but that doesn't mean it still doesn't affect me.

by gphil 16y ago

Yes, but what about when the shareholders are also mostly Americans? Big corporations tend to operate in their stock's best interest, and this can still cause serious problems for their shareholders.

chadmalik 16y ago

Your thesis is contradicted by a massive amount of real world data.

gphil 16y ago
What I meant by my initial comment is in no way contradictory on its face, nor contradicted by any amount of real world data. Allow me to clarify with a simple example: Consider the case of a shareholder invested in a company behaving in anti-competitive behavior that negatively effects the market as a whole. Now suppose the same shareholder owns many stocks across the market. This is clearly a loss for the shareholder, and a win for the company only. That's what I was trying to express.

Nwallins 16y ago

> Big corporations tend to operate in their stock's best interest, and this can still cause serious problems for their shareholders. Erm, what? This seems contradictory on its face. The shareholder's only interest in a company is its stock performance, be it stock price or dividend payments. What sort of tendencies are you thinking of, here?

steveklabnik 16y ago
> The shareholder's only interest in a company is its stock performance, I think this is where you and he differ. For instance, I'm a Microsoft shareholder. (2 shares, but still...) Many Microsoft decisions since the mid-90s (when I first started holding MSFT) have made life overall worse for me, even if they may have increased the value of the stock I held.
- Nwallins 16y ago
  > Many Microsoft decisions since the mid-90s (when I first started holding MSFT) have made life overall worse for me That has nothing to do with your being a shareholder.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    You're right. There's no causation there... but that doesn't mean it still doesn't affect me.