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Doesn’t all this smell ENRON’ish?

gruez 4y ago
In what sense? Searching Enron's Wikipedia article I couldn't find any references to employees getting loans to buy stock. The only way they're similar is "dubious company crashes and burns, employee's equity turn worthless", but even then the similarity is limited because Enron was a case of fraud and bolt isn't (at least to my knowledge).
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  Enron, Lehman, and similar had serious pressure to buy company stocks including making it the default for a 401k contribution. But afaik there was no equity financing by the company. That said the culture was so heavy all in corporate stock many, many employees lost everything. Never hold company stock. If you work there you’re already incredibly long. Diversify.
- solatic 4y ago
  A rather large number of Enron deals (where Enron purchased an asset) were denominated in Enron stock rather than in cash. Enron executives were compensated in stock, with additional bonuses based on the stock value. Everyone was happy until the stock started to dive, then many of the underlying deals that were denominated in stock reverted to cash because the stock price dropped too low, etc. It's Enron-ish because it's a deal that creates additional demand for the stock, then when the price of the stock rises, it's used as proof that doing deals with company stock is profitable to all parties, which makes it more enticing in the future. When the stock falls (always unthinkable), the rank and file are holding the bag.
Apocryphon 4y ago
It’s less Enron and more like the financialization of everything. Companies have so much capital they start investing in other startups or try our harebrained schemes like this, rather than spending it on R&D.
hoofhearted 4y ago
I was implying ENRON’ish in the sense of executives encouraging employees to take huge risks on over inflated sales numbers and the employees being left to hold the bag. Not in the sense of shell companies and widespread corporate corruption.

In what sense? Searching Enron's Wikipedia article I couldn't find any references to employees getting loans to buy stock. The only way they're similar is "dubious company crashes and burns, employee's equity turn worthless", but even then the similarity is limited because Enron was a case of fraud and bolt isn't (at least to my knowledge).

fnordpiglet 4y ago
Enron, Lehman, and similar had serious pressure to buy company stocks including making it the default for a 401k contribution. But afaik there was no equity financing by the company. That said the culture was so heavy all in corporate stock many, many employees lost everything. Never hold company stock. If you work there you’re already incredibly long. Diversify.
solatic 4y ago
A rather large number of Enron deals (where Enron purchased an asset) were denominated in Enron stock rather than in cash. Enron executives were compensated in stock, with additional bonuses based on the stock value. Everyone was happy until the stock started to dive, then many of the underlying deals that were denominated in stock reverted to cash because the stock price dropped too low, etc. It's Enron-ish because it's a deal that creates additional demand for the stock, then when the price of the stock rises, it's used as proof that doing deals with company stock is profitable to all parties, which makes it more enticing in the future. When the stock falls (always unthinkable), the rank and file are holding the bag.

Apocryphon 4y ago

It’s less Enron and more like the financialization of everything. Companies have so much capital they start investing in other startups or try our harebrained schemes like this, rather than spending it on R&D.

hoofhearted 4y ago

I was implying ENRON’ish in the sense of executives encouraging employees to take huge risks on over inflated sales numbers and the employees being left to hold the bag. Not in the sense of shell companies and widespread corporate corruption.