3 ms·

Imagine slashing 30,000 jobs for a measly 2% share price bump.

TwoNineA 7mo ago
> Imagine slashing 30,000 jobs for a measly 2% share price bump. One lost job is a tragedy. 30,000 jobs lost is statistics.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo ago
  These are some of the richest and most profitable companies in history but they act like miserly slaves to their share price. We have created such a perverted incentive system.
  - throwaway613746 7mo ago
    [dead]
  - kjksf 7mo ago
    There's an argument to be made about bad incentives driving large public companies. But it's way less satisfying that emotional appeals. The base of your statement is just wrong. A company is a legal fiction. It doesn't have thoughts, wants, desires. It's not rich or poor. It's a piece of paper. It's an entry in government database. What is not a fiction is Oracle's owners i.e. shareholders. They are not rich. Majority of them, either direct owner of stock or in-direct owners via pension plans etc. are like you and me. They are not rich and the price of Oracle shares can be a difference between them being able to pay rent today or being able to retire tomorrow. Those people rightfully care about the share price. The executive are correctly responding to wishes of owners of the company by managing it to make a profit and therefore keep the stock price high. What in the above chain do you find objectionable? That millions of Americans investing in public companies depend on and therefore care about stock price? That management of public companies is correctly responding to demands of owners of those companies by managing companies for profit? Or maybe you just want to skip to the end of the line and seize means of production from private citizens to bask in the warm glow of collectivism?
    - 2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo ago
      I'm a shareholder. I'd prefer long term growth and sustainability rather than short term unsustainable pumps. When will they look out for the shareholders like me?
    - deleted 7mo ago
      [deleted]
    - wiseowise 7mo ago
      > Or maybe you just want to skip to the end of the line and seize means of production from private citizens to bask in the warm glow of collectivism? Interesting how “American dream” was forgotten and now it’s either under corporatist boot or collectivism.
  - randomNumber7 7mo ago
    These companies didn't create the system and they are only rich and profitable because they act accordingly.
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
kjksf 7mo ago
[flagged]
- bcrosby95 7mo ago
  Imagine thinking people losing their primary income source (usually 100% of it) is remotely comparable to the share price of a single company not going up 2%.
  - simianwords 7mo ago
    If you can’t lay off people then the economy won’t run and it affects everyone. Sure you can show easy empathy for the employees but this is how economy runs. A static economy where layoffs are hard or punished will lose to a more dynamic one.
    - wiseowise 7mo ago
      > Sure you can show easy empathy for the employees but this is how economy runs. A static economy where layoffs are hard or punished will lose to a more dynamic one. Is that why workers are generally happier in Europe even though on paper their economy loses?
      - pedroma 7mo ago
        I've always been skeptical of happiness statistics. In many cases, self-reporting happiness offers an objective floor for happiness, but the ceiling is entirely relative/subjective. The floor is universal: starvation, suffering, death. The ceiling... For someone who's starving & facing death, would simply be good health, easy access to food, healthy family, house & car. But the ceiling for someone who already has these things is different. The ceiling for a billionaire is different. The only way I can imagine not doing this type of subjective self-reporting is... maybe you can draw blood from populations and record cortisol and oxytocin levels?
- kjs3 7mo ago
  I think we have a new high water mark for "false equivalence".
criddell 7mo ago
Ellison owns something like 40% of Oracle which has a market cap of $400 billion. That measly 2% share bump earned him $3 billion today.

> Imagine slashing 30,000 jobs for a measly 2% share price bump. One lost job is a tragedy. 30,000 jobs lost is statistics.

2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo ago
These are some of the richest and most profitable companies in history but they act like miserly slaves to their share price. We have created such a perverted incentive system.
- throwaway613746 7mo ago
  [dead]
- kjksf 7mo ago
  There's an argument to be made about bad incentives driving large public companies. But it's way less satisfying that emotional appeals. The base of your statement is just wrong. A company is a legal fiction. It doesn't have thoughts, wants, desires. It's not rich or poor. It's a piece of paper. It's an entry in government database. What is not a fiction is Oracle's owners i.e. shareholders. They are not rich. Majority of them, either direct owner of stock or in-direct owners via pension plans etc. are like you and me. They are not rich and the price of Oracle shares can be a difference between them being able to pay rent today or being able to retire tomorrow. Those people rightfully care about the share price. The executive are correctly responding to wishes of owners of the company by managing it to make a profit and therefore keep the stock price high. What in the above chain do you find objectionable? That millions of Americans investing in public companies depend on and therefore care about stock price? That management of public companies is correctly responding to demands of owners of those companies by managing companies for profit? Or maybe you just want to skip to the end of the line and seize means of production from private citizens to bask in the warm glow of collectivism?
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo ago
    I'm a shareholder. I'd prefer long term growth and sustainability rather than short term unsustainable pumps. When will they look out for the shareholders like me?
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - wiseowise 7mo ago
    > Or maybe you just want to skip to the end of the line and seize means of production from private citizens to bask in the warm glow of collectivism? Interesting how “American dream” was forgotten and now it’s either under corporatist boot or collectivism.
- randomNumber7 7mo ago
  These companies didn't create the system and they are only rich and profitable because they act accordingly.

deleted 7mo ago

[deleted]

kjksf 7mo ago

[flagged]

bcrosby95 7mo ago
Imagine thinking people losing their primary income source (usually 100% of it) is remotely comparable to the share price of a single company not going up 2%.
- simianwords 7mo ago
  If you can’t lay off people then the economy won’t run and it affects everyone. Sure you can show easy empathy for the employees but this is how economy runs. A static economy where layoffs are hard or punished will lose to a more dynamic one.
  - wiseowise 7mo ago
    > Sure you can show easy empathy for the employees but this is how economy runs. A static economy where layoffs are hard or punished will lose to a more dynamic one. Is that why workers are generally happier in Europe even though on paper their economy loses?
    - pedroma 7mo ago
      I've always been skeptical of happiness statistics. In many cases, self-reporting happiness offers an objective floor for happiness, but the ceiling is entirely relative/subjective. The floor is universal: starvation, suffering, death. The ceiling... For someone who's starving & facing death, would simply be good health, easy access to food, healthy family, house & car. But the ceiling for someone who already has these things is different. The ceiling for a billionaire is different. The only way I can imagine not doing this type of subjective self-reporting is... maybe you can draw blood from populations and record cortisol and oxytocin levels?
kjs3 7mo ago
I think we have a new high water mark for "false equivalence".

criddell 7mo ago

Ellison owns something like 40% of Oracle which has a market cap of $400 billion. That measly 2% share bump earned him $3 billion today.