Hear that? That's the sound of $9B in valuation disappearing :| There is really a thin line between delusion and brilliance.
Based on some googling it seems it would take roughly 1.8 years.
Same question.
If it doesn't follow any laws of physics, then there is no predictable relationship between any input and its action (since if there was such a predictable relationship, it would be a law of physics that the string was obeying.)
* Sunken cost fallacy (we can still make a come back!)
* Failure is unacceptable (returning money is accepting utter failure)
* Returning money means you no longer possess it or the power / reputation it yields (you will no longer get a generous salary for example)
* Returning hundreds of millions of dollars with a multi-billion dollar loss is a joke to begin with
That's the definition of sunk cost fallacy isn't it? It's seeing yourself as someone who lost $9B not someone who has $200M :) that was a good life lesson for me personally.
Don't ever expect someone who has gotten their hands on your money to voluntarily close up shop and give it back :p
They'll take it to the casino and bet it all on black, or siphon it off somewhere else before that ever happens...because all your money gone and them giving it back to you is the same thing to the person who no longer has it.
Maybe you shouldn't expect it, but I have seen a start-up or two that failed and that did exactly that.
And start-ups that fail have a whole pile of clauses triggered in the various shareholder agreements that count towards a 'liquidation event'. That's what liq-prefs are for and the immediate consequence usually is that the latest investors stand the best chance of getting some or all of their money back.
But just don't expect it...
On the other hand, if you're scamming consumers of course it is only a very small step to scam investors (and easier to get away with).
They may do so if forced by legal action; otherwise, its unlikely. If management can continue to spend other people's money pretending to try to run a viable business and paying themselves and their associates until there's nothing left to pay with, they'd probably rather do that that hand money back to investors.