Except for Eric Schmidt, that cap table reads like a bunch of suckers trying to "diversify their success." Barry Diller, on the other hand, is no sucker.
I bet their portfolio managers did that, and then attached their names to the deal to lend it an air of credibility, probably negotiating some sweet bonuses and spiffs for themselves in the process, and now this reads like they're all a POS, which, while that may be true for other reasons, hides the likely fact that the real POS's here are the stockbrokers.
If I buy shares in Phillip Morris, then I better be ok with people smoking cigarettes and everything that entails.
Especially if I’m publicly attaching my name with “prepend supports Phillip Morris.”
There’s gradations of being a dick, but approving your portfolio managers plan to buy shady companies is still a dick move. So is not being aware of what your portfolio manager buys.
I'm not absolving them of their participation in bendingspoons and other such companies, I'm saying to not forget that it's the soulless portfolio managers that are the minds that move the body of evil.
I do blame them for their participation, but not as much as the people offering them the opportunity to profit from the exploitation of others.
It's like the Bernie Madoff "victims". A bunch of them were in on it to some degree so they could make a quick buck. I have no more sympathy for them than they do for me.
But the majority of the people who both profited and lost from Madoff were people who were letting their 401k retirement plans be managed by a company which were ultimately being used to fund the scheme.
Not a one of them likely knew that this was how their money was being used and they are all actually victims.
The real jerks are the stockbroker portfolio managers. If they didn't offer to enable rich-jerk douchery for fun and profit, it wouldn't be a thing they were all doing.
Only soulless people hire soulless portfolio managers.
A portfolio manager, like a lawyer or attorney, is really specific and takes a lot of selection. People choose intentionally.
Madoff didn’t work with 401ks. No one had their 401k funds with Madoff. It was all rich people using private hedge funds. Also, Madoff was a fraud, not an asshole.
It’s very different to harm people with adware infected, terrible apps than to run a Ponzi scheme. Madoff deceived his investors. Bendingspoons says exactly what they’re going to do and then does it. They aren’t deceiving anyone.
The jerk stockbrokers are all demand side. If people weren’t jerks they wouldn’t hire jerk stockbrokers. It’s a thing because people want it.
I can see how owning stock is a bet on the future success of a company, but not an endorsement. Maybe I don't understand stocks.
I think you do endorse the company whose shares you hold, in particular if it’s public knowledge.
This is the part I don't understand. You generally buy stock from other stock holders. The company doesn't get the proceeds.
No, no, and no.
Will they stop mining if no-one holds their public shares? Lol, no, lots of privately held mining companies exist who tend to perform even less ethically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_Prospecting#Attitudes_...
So, if they're going to dig the stuff up to sell to China anyway, I'm happy earning some money from it. I don't endorse their behaviour, but I do endorse the 10 - 15% return I've been getting on something they're doing already.
Your vote may be paltry, but it’s still your vote. Use it wisely. It matters.
Generating the energy to fire a neuron giving the dude sympathy is energy wasted.
To be fair, Taika Waititi is known to be a bit of a very self-confident dickhead, which is why he achieved the success he did, you need that kind of unflappable-almost-delusional self-belief to make it in film, especially when you're starting from a small isolated island nation and trying to break into Hollywood.
But yeah, in this case, a financial advisor spotted a great opportunity.