[TriLUG] OT: PT One tech issue from tonight's debate

[Chris Merrill]

On 10/19/2012 3:59 PM, Joseph Mack NA3T wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Oct 2012, Chris Merrill wrote:
> 
>> And why shouldn't they do that? That is their job, after all (delivering value to their
>> stockholders).
> 
> It's not true at now and never has been. The only obligations a company has to its shareholders
> occur at bankruptcy.

I'm sorry, but it sounds like you don't understand how corporations work. They do what their owners
(shareholders) tell them to do.  If the shareholders tell them "make me money as fast as you can
regardless of the consequences", then that is what they will (try to) do. This is exactly what the
shareholders of most publicly-held companies tell them to do. If the shareholders tell them to pay
them dividends, then that is what they do. This is what the vast majority of corporations do - all
the ones you've never heard of...the small local businesses.

(When I refer to shareholders here, I'm referring to the shareholders as a whole - a shareholder
owning a single share is obviously going to have little influence.)



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Chris Merrill                           |  Web Performance, Inc.
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