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I started to read this article and saw no mention of Sarbanes-Oxley. I searched for 'Sarbanes' and 'SOX'. How old is Farad Manjoo? How old is his editor? Or doe

I started to read this article and saw no mention of Sarbanes-Oxley. I searched for 'Sarbanes' and 'SOX'. How old is Farad Manjoo? How old is his editor? Or does this cluelessness come from the filter bubble of working for the New York Times?

icebraining 11y ago
He's 37, in case you're really wondering. I do find it funny that he wrote a book called "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society" :)
bpodgursky 11y ago
It's either uninformed or a hit piece, if it doesn't cite SOX as the main cause. Either way adds nothing to the general public understanding.
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ashurbanipal 11y ago
That's a great point. I wish everything written by Farhad had a warning label on it for gross stupidity. Sarb-Ox is clearly a big deal. However the bigger challenge facing these "stay private" companies is their massive need for cash. Traditionally, private companies generate a lot of positive cash flow which they use to support debt loads from either banks or the bond markets. These companies are starting to access the debt markets (witness Uber's large LOC and recent convert issuance) but without the cash flow to back up that debt. This will become an issue, because as of yet there is no private market for equity capital to be used to pay off debt at par - private equity and VC investors are not in that business as they have time-limited funds which need to produce positive cash returns in 7 - 10 years to pay back the LPs... The public markets represent the largest pool of permanent capital out there so unless the Unicorns stop bleeding cash they will have to come to the public markets eventually. AMZN seems like the best possible outcome for these companies.
jseliger 11y ago
Here is his response: https://twitter.com/fmanjoo/status/616624526374256640 https://twitter.com/fmanjoo/status/616624526374256640 : "@seligerj a whole article about a complex issue and no mention of my pet interest that is just of many factors in the discussion!!!!??" Does anyone have good data / sources on the role of SarBox?
- msgilligan 11y ago
  OK, that answers a few questions. It's not ignorance, it's bias.

icebraining 11y ago

He's 37, in case you're really wondering. I do find it funny that he wrote a book called "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society" :)

bpodgursky 11y ago

It's either uninformed or a hit piece, if it doesn't cite SOX as the main cause. Either way adds nothing to the general public understanding.

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ashurbanipal 11y ago

That's a great point. I wish everything written by Farhad had a warning label on it for gross stupidity. Sarb-Ox is clearly a big deal. However the bigger challenge facing these "stay private" companies is their massive need for cash. Traditionally, private companies generate a lot of positive cash flow which they use to support debt loads from either banks or the bond markets. These companies are starting to access the debt markets (witness Uber's large LOC and recent convert issuance) but without the cash flow to back up that debt. This will become an issue, because as of yet there is no private market for equity capital to be used to pay off debt at par - private equity and VC investors are not in that business as they have time-limited funds which need to produce positive cash returns in 7 - 10 years to pay back the LPs... The public markets represent the largest pool of permanent capital out there so unless the Unicorns stop bleeding cash they will have to come to the public markets eventually. AMZN seems like the best possible outcome for these companies.

jseliger 11y ago

Here is his response: https://twitter.com/fmanjoo/status/616624526374256640 https://twitter.com/fmanjoo/status/616624526374256640 : "@seligerj a whole article about a complex issue and no mention of my pet interest that is just of many factors in the discussion!!!!??" Does anyone have good data / sources on the role of SarBox?

msgilligan 11y ago
OK, that answers a few questions. It's not ignorance, it's bias.