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> I'd have had a lot of respect for Amazon had they just chosen a site on logistical criteria and built it out of pocket. Amazon is a publicly traded company.

> I'd have had a lot of respect for Amazon had they just chosen a site on logistical criteria and built it out of pocket. Amazon is a publicly traded company. Like every company, the point of the business is to generate profit. This means reducing overhead costs in order to do so. Sure, they could do it out of pocket, but why do that when NY was offering standard business incentives to bring them there? Why cost your investors money when you don't need to? Look at any large company, they're going to do the same thing and try and leverage any avenue to reduce overhead costs. It's just smart business, period. Show me a company who paid their own way without any state or local tax breaks and I'll show you 100 fold more who did.

dingaling 8y ago
Amazon doesn't pay dividends, so the magnitude of profit has no direct relevance to shareholders. So if it won't harm the shareholders ( most of whom are secondary-market holders and thus not investors ) why not what is morally right versus technically right? Isn't that what we ask engineers to consider before working for ad networks, for example? Why does that not scale to companies?
- whatok 8y ago
  Whether a company pays a dividend or not has no relevance to whether profit should matter to an investor. I'm not sure what you're trying to make a point about here. Additionally, I'm not sure what your point about "secondary market holders" vs "investors" is about either. Would you mind clarifying these?
  - JetSpiegel 8y ago
    > Whether a company pays a dividend or not has no relevance to whether profit should matter to an investor. What? The point if owning stocks is receiving dividends, otherwise it's just speculation. Without dividends, you can only realize gains by selling to someone else, turning the whole thing into a Ponzi scheme.
anth_anm 8y ago
Instead they wasted how much time and money on a fake search, only to have the whole thing blow up in their face. The idea that they had to do this out of "obligation to shareholders" is ridiculous. Amazon has avoided profit in search of growth for decades. For a supposedly long term thinking company this was a misstep.

dingaling 8y ago

Amazon doesn't pay dividends, so the magnitude of profit has no direct relevance to shareholders. So if it won't harm the shareholders ( most of whom are secondary-market holders and thus not investors ) why not what is morally right versus technically right? Isn't that what we ask engineers to consider before working for ad networks, for example? Why does that not scale to companies?

whatok 8y ago
Whether a company pays a dividend or not has no relevance to whether profit should matter to an investor. I'm not sure what you're trying to make a point about here. Additionally, I'm not sure what your point about "secondary market holders" vs "investors" is about either. Would you mind clarifying these?
- JetSpiegel 8y ago
  > Whether a company pays a dividend or not has no relevance to whether profit should matter to an investor. What? The point if owning stocks is receiving dividends, otherwise it's just speculation. Without dividends, you can only realize gains by selling to someone else, turning the whole thing into a Ponzi scheme.

anth_anm 8y ago

Instead they wasted how much time and money on a fake search, only to have the whole thing blow up in their face. The idea that they had to do this out of "obligation to shareholders" is ridiculous. Amazon has avoided profit in search of growth for decades. For a supposedly long term thinking company this was a misstep.