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"How will you fight the inevitable slide that happens if you ever got on top?". Don't get too greedy. There must be examples... 37Signals?

d4mi3n 1y ago
"Don't get greedy" and similar variations assumes intent rather than what I see as the reality of how companies operate within the US--not a failing of individual virtues. If you're a public company, your shareholders will want stock prices to go up and are more than happy to use their shares to vote for whoever is willing to make that happen. This is, of course, an exaggeration. Not all shareholders value profits above all else, but many big ones do. Ignoring what incentives (and disincentives) are put on a business drive it's behavior. If you want something contrary to those incentives, you need to change those pressures or you're doomed to be disappointed.
- extraduder_ire 1y ago
  Is there a minimum percentage of voting stock you have to issue in US law? IIRC, google is split in half into voting and non-voting shares with a clause in their incorporation to buy back shares to keep their prices roughly equal.
  - sehansen 1y ago
    There isn't. Snapchat went public by issuing only non-voting shares to the open market.
justinclift 1y ago
Maybe B corporations?
- wiether 1y ago
  Outside of the tech world, Unilever is one of the worst mega-companies in basically everything they do. Yet, their ANZ branch is certified since 2022: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/unilever-anz/ https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/uni... B Corp enshitified itself, trying to get bigger, instead of staying true to its (supposed) mission
  - justinclift 1y ago
    For anyone else wondering, there's an extensive list on Wikipedia. Many of the entries are really significant, though this one stands out the most to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever#Trade_in_Russia_amid_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever#Trade_in_Russia_amid_...
hatthew 1y ago
Valve is arguably a good example
- chuckadams 1y ago
  Valve is also of course a privately held company.

d4mi3n 1y ago

"Don't get greedy" and similar variations assumes intent rather than what I see as the reality of how companies operate within the US--not a failing of individual virtues. If you're a public company, your shareholders will want stock prices to go up and are more than happy to use their shares to vote for whoever is willing to make that happen. This is, of course, an exaggeration. Not all shareholders value profits above all else, but many big ones do. Ignoring what incentives (and disincentives) are put on a business drive it's behavior. If you want something contrary to those incentives, you need to change those pressures or you're doomed to be disappointed.

extraduder_ire 1y ago
Is there a minimum percentage of voting stock you have to issue in US law? IIRC, google is split in half into voting and non-voting shares with a clause in their incorporation to buy back shares to keep their prices roughly equal.
- sehansen 1y ago
  There isn't. Snapchat went public by issuing only non-voting shares to the open market.

justinclift 1y ago

Maybe B corporations?

wiether 1y ago
Outside of the tech world, Unilever is one of the worst mega-companies in basically everything they do. Yet, their ANZ branch is certified since 2022: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/unilever-anz/ https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/uni... B Corp enshitified itself, trying to get bigger, instead of staying true to its (supposed) mission
- justinclift 1y ago
  For anyone else wondering, there's an extensive list on Wikipedia. Many of the entries are really significant, though this one stands out the most to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever#Trade_in_Russia_amid_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever#Trade_in_Russia_amid_...

hatthew 1y ago

Valve is arguably a good example

chuckadams 1y ago
Valve is also of course a privately held company.