"Your assumption is that it won't hurt them in the long run." The entire notion of "the long run" has implicit in it various "ceteris paribus" assumptions that

"Your assumption is that it won't hurt them in the long run." The entire notion of "the long run" has implicit in it various "ceteris paribus" assumptions that are very frequently false. In particular, the "long run" makes little sense in the context of rapidly changing business and technology fields, and even less sense when it comes to mercurial public opinion. On the other hand, the one thing that consistently has a good long-run outcome is to make money now, since, "in the long run", not only can accumulated capital stick around, but it will usually even appreciate.