5 ms·
1B+ write-off's all deserve a full post-mortem. It's crazy to imagine such amount of value disappear into void.
by treme 2y ago
1B+ write-off's all deserve a full post-mortem. It's crazy to imagine such amount of value disappear into void.
- entangledqubit 2y agoRelated to preventing value getting shoveled into the void, I was reading an article about tax write offs for movies that were never released - even though they were basically done. The fun suggestion someone had was that the movies be released to the public domain, since in some sense, society was footing the bill. It seems like something along those lines would be interesting here.
- blackhawkC17 2y agoI consider it the beauty of capitalism. People are equally free to create huge value or destroy huge value.
- lenerdenator 2y agoRarely is value created or destroyed. It's transferred, as it is here. There are a few big exceptions to this. Discovering a new deposit of mineral wealth and the microcomputer revolution drastically speeding up business tasks are examples.
- alexey-salmin 2y agoThat's like exactly the opposite of how economy works. Taking a great firm and reducing it to zero destroys value. Building a great firm from zero creates it. I personally believe that the failure to understand this is the reason why the political left is so bad at building economies when given a chance. Being obsessed with the fair distribution of value, they overlook the creation and preservation aspect. In the end there's nothing to distribute.
- acchow 2y agoBarring rent seeking and other anti-competitive behavior, all net profit is value creation.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoEven rent seeking is value creation, just less than alternatives. No free exchange ever occurs unless the counterparties disagree on value, leading to a net gain post transaction.
- positr0n 2y agoThe definition of rent seeking is manipulating the political environment to create new wealth for yourself without creating net wealth for society. The classic example is the owner of a section of river imposing a toll for boats traversing the river. The rent creates value for the owner but exactly the same amount negative value for the rest of society. A toll for a ferry the owner created would be creating wealth. As would developing a resort there. Modern examples of rent seeking are usually related to regulatory capture or housing politics.
- akritrime 2y agoThat also begs the question how much of that value is substantial and how much of that is just narrative froth from speculation.
- monero-xmr 2y agoAll value is subjective. If I’m dying of thirst I will pay anything for a bottle of water.
- nradov 2y agoWhy would any of us care? It's not our money. $1B+ valuation changes happen all the time.
- BillSaysThis 2y agoTaxes? The investors in the PE's fund that owned this company?
- s1artibartfast 2y agoIt's not really anybody else's business if someone else is maximizing taxable revenue or not. Investors have an interest though, but presumably more visibility if they want it
- nradov 2y agoWhat? Are you saying that you think there needs to be some kind of post-mortem because the investors might end up paying less income tax then they would have in some unlikely alternate reality where the deal was a success? That doesn't make any sense at all.
- glennpratt 2y agoI'm not GP, but perhaps something like the following would be a reason (investigation might be a more accurate term than post-mortem in that case). >In October 2020, Vista's CEO Robert F. Smith and investor Robert T. Brockman were named in a tax evasion case.[33][34] That month, Smith signed a non-prosecution agreement with the IRS, agreeing to pay $139 million and testify against Brockman.[33] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vista_Equity_Partners#Tax_evasion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vista_Equity_Partners#Tax_evas...