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Comment by kartD | Hacker News Reader

Yahoo did serve one purpose, it was the exit system for a lot of almost successful startups. Hope that continues under Verizon, though I doubt it.

On Mayer, well eh she put her hand up and suffered. but then Yahoo was pretty much past saving. Hopefully, she's learned from her mistakes and moves to something more productive.

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The macro economically productive "purpose" of a start-up is to make profit, not to "exit". Until this is understood and forced by the economy, the overall economic climate in the US will continue to deteriorate.

The purpose of a company is to make money. There is no disagreement there. But the fact that economic climate in the US is deteriorating is bunk, and double bunk that even if it were, it would be related to misunderstandings of the purposes for which startups are founded and run...

Do you own a house in SF now, as an Uber employee? In 1950s one would be able to afford that, with a non-working wife and several children.

Rather personal no? I guess a question merits answering. I do not - but not because I cannot afford one, I am saving my money for something else :)

Why would you hope that continues? They validated startups that probably wouldn't have been validated by any other means. Unless you're an investor, that's probably a bad thing, not a good thing.

It's a good thing if you own or work for the startup. It gives you an exit when otherwise you would be bankrupt and unemployed.

But its a bad thing overall if the employees and owner of the startup were wasting their time and money producing a product that never showed value.

Showed enough value to be acquired...

...by Yahoo, which in light of their current situation is not much of an endorsement.

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