> When management does demonstrate credibility, Wall Street's usually more than happy to let them focus on long-term initiatives. Just look at Amazon, which is

> When management does demonstrate credibility, Wall Street's usually more than happy to let them focus on long-term initiatives. Just look at Amazon, which is a darling of the investment community, trusted to steer nearly a trillion dollars in shareholder capital. Bezos has continuously poured huge resources into long-term speculative initiatives at the expense of quarterly earnings. And he's loved by shareholders for it, because he has a history of competence and putting company interests above personal ones. I'm sure this perspective is not correct. You are pointing out something that exists, but your argument about why it exists is misguided. Bezos can do this because he is a Founding CEO. I recommend reading Andreessen Horowitz's primary thesis on why they invest in Founding CEOs (https://a16z.com/2010/04/28/why-we-prefer-founding-ceos/ https://a16z.com/2010/04/28/why-we-prefer-founding-ceos/). Founding CEOs, as opposed to Professional CEOs, have two things working for them: 1) Moral Authority 2) An Ability to Recognize New Product Cycles. 1) Moral Authority: It's not that shareholders trust Bezos more than anyone else. It's that he has Moral Authority to take risks because he founded the company. Per Ben Horowitz: "Often, true innovation requires throwing out many of the foundational assumptions of the company. If the company is significant, doing so may be extremely difficult for the professional CEO. The company’s core belief system is often entangled in those assumptions. Since the founding CEO made the assumptions in the first place, it is much easier for her. An excellent example of existing, invalid assumptions paralyzing a whole set of companies recently played out in the music industry." 2) Ability to Recognize New Product Cycles: This is a skill professional CEOs simply don't have. Again, per Ben Horowitz: "Founding CEOs naturally take a long view of their companies. The company is their life’s work. Their emotional commitment exceeds their equity stake. Their goal from the start is to build something significant. They instinctively know that big product cycles come from investment and that even the biggest product cycles will eventually fade. Professional CEOs, on the other hand, tend to be driven by relatively shorter-term goals. They are paid in terms of stock options that vest over 4 years and cash bonuses for quarterly and yearly performance." So in essence, what you are saying, that public companies have the ability to be like Bezos, is simply not true and never will be true. This is why something like the LTSE is a needed experiment.