And some companies are only profitable as-run for the shareholders, temporarily, despite being theoretically sound long-term businesses. Take a profitable company, cut costs to bone, arbitrage off all the goodwill generated by an erstwhile decent product, strip assets, pay executive salaries, bonuses and dividends on the "stunning" short term profits and flit before the emptied husk crashes down on top of the employees that once made it work. Bonus dead-eyed vulture points if it's public infrastructure and the tax payer is now on the hook for double-digit billions to restore the damage you did.

This week, water, but the same happens over and over again in every sector: https://theconversation.com/how-thames-water-came-to-be-floo...