4 ms·

I wouldn’t exactly consider valve a billion dollar mega corp. For one, they aren’t public and therefore aren’t beholden to the whims of share holders.

nerdponx 5y ago
They are still beholden to the whims of those who stand to benefit the most from the company making a profit, even if they aren't "shareholders" as such.
- Jensson 5y ago
  But that is very different, every company owned by shareholders starts behaving in exactly the same predictable manner. However as long as the founders controls everything the company behaves as the founder wishes, it could be good or even worse than what you'd get with shareholders. On average it is probably the same but for an individual company it still matters a lot.
- wolrah 5y ago
  Yes, but they are not subject to the whims of short-term "investors" who only care about maximizing the next quarter or financial year's numbers. That's the biggest problem in modern public corporations, a significant number of shareholders have no long term interest and will happily hurt the company to sell out with a higher number. I hold no delusions that Valve is doing things for my benefit, but they have managed to position themselves in a place where their interests and the interests of PC gamers mostly align.
adventured 5y ago
Valve is valued at $10+ billion. They're not big tech in the style of Microsoft, however they are a mega corporation (a very large company). Any company with their scale, revenue and influence is a mega corporation. If Valve had been public in this extreme stock market era, they'd probably have gotten a $30+ billion valuation (Unity at the peak was worth $60 billion). Gabe Newell is worth $8 billion courtesy of his ownership stake. https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/gabe-newell/ https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/gabe-newell/

nerdponx 5y ago

They are still beholden to the whims of those who stand to benefit the most from the company making a profit, even if they aren't "shareholders" as such.

Jensson 5y ago
But that is very different, every company owned by shareholders starts behaving in exactly the same predictable manner. However as long as the founders controls everything the company behaves as the founder wishes, it could be good or even worse than what you'd get with shareholders. On average it is probably the same but for an individual company it still matters a lot.
wolrah 5y ago
Yes, but they are not subject to the whims of short-term "investors" who only care about maximizing the next quarter or financial year's numbers. That's the biggest problem in modern public corporations, a significant number of shareholders have no long term interest and will happily hurt the company to sell out with a higher number. I hold no delusions that Valve is doing things for my benefit, but they have managed to position themselves in a place where their interests and the interests of PC gamers mostly align.

adventured 5y ago

Valve is valued at $10+ billion. They're not big tech in the style of Microsoft, however they are a mega corporation (a very large company). Any company with their scale, revenue and influence is a mega corporation. If Valve had been public in this extreme stock market era, they'd probably have gotten a $30+ billion valuation (Unity at the peak was worth $60 billion). Gabe Newell is worth $8 billion courtesy of his ownership stake. https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/gabe-newell/ https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/gabe-newell/