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Comment by ROTMetro | Hacker News Reader

It's a great quote for what has happened to the USA in almost every single area, industry, government, education, religious thought, political thought.

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I recently found out MARS yes the candy company has become the largest owner of Veterinarian offices in the USA. It really is palpable how everything is on a runaway train and we can all see it yet are powerless to stop it.

Also cat food. They invest in a reef conservation technique too, and named a reef in Indo - where they were trialing said technique - after one of their catfood brands. The logo says "more coral today, more fish tomorrow" and there's a picture of a cat.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johannaread/2021/05/05/the-sheb...

Somebody ought to tell their marketing department cats can't survive on fish.

So a spilled bag of M&Ms makes them money twice.

This is darker than the chocolate in the M&Ms.

That’s a pretty low bar though.

How on earth did they get into veterinarian offices business? Branding reasons?

Started in Europe with pet food (90's). Slowly moved into pet pharma and scientific research. Then in 2007 they started moving into the vet game. Seems like a pretty natural evolution. Wonder if they'll try to buy Chewy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars,_Incorporated#Mars_Petcar...

Edit: looks like petsmart beat mars to the punch on chewy

They own Pedigree (dog food) and Whiskas (cat food). So there is a connection to pet care there.

On a side note, they also sponsor projects to help with and care for feral cats and stray dogs in Mexico.

There might be some decent people with good intentions at those companies, but it all seems like some white vest marketing to me.

And any pet owner will confirm that veterinarians make good money. So for MARS to get into that market seems like a smart move.

It happens here in a unique way, partly because of the legal structure we have around public corporations. In the US, institutional investors want to see revenue growth, even over profits. Way more sexy. And they have ways to arm-twist management by influencing the board, agitating for new board members, etc. They work to frighten other stockholders into supporting them and then management has to go along. Sarbanes-Oxley might be waved around, too.

Normally, a cash-cow business would be a great thing to own. Unfortunately the accumulated cash plus (feared or actual) slowing of growth equal a big red flag.

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