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If only we can weaponize this collective power for shorting shitty companies that have caused irreparable damage to society and the world (O&G, Koch Industries)
by xyst 6y ago
If only we can weaponize this collective power for shorting shitty companies that have caused irreparable damage to society and the world (O&G, Koch Industries).
Right now the power of shorting companies is held by "institutional" investors simply because of how much funds are controlled by a select group of people and thus can buy and manipulate the market.
I would die happy if I saw Exxon or BP go to zero.
- lr4444lr 6y agoYou want to short companies for moral reasons that have objectively strong fundamentals? That sounds extremely dangerous, financially speaking.
- kortilla 6y agoYou’re fundamentally misunderstanding the model for shorting. You don’t short companies that aren’t already failing or other investors will happily buy your shares and you’ll be the one squeezed out. > I would die happy if I saw Exxon or BP go to zero. The underlying company would actually need to go bankrupt for this to work. A bunch of shorts can’t sell a bunch of stock an expect it to wipe a company out. Otherwise the company will just continue on and the shorts will bleed out payments or even worse, just buy back all of its stock an go private, really screwing the shorts.
- nradov 6y agoIt is impossible to drive the Exxon share price to zero through shorting regardless of how much capital you have. And even if that somehow worked, Exxon the corporation would still exist.