Hacker News Reader

Comment by pllbnk | Hacker News Reader

I think neither CEOs nor boards of the public companies care. They want to maximize their paychecks and bonuses in the short term before they leave to other companies.

View on HN

Like termites, moving on to the next tree. One day we'll figure out how to be rid of these parasites, then we'll have healthier trees.

Say the creatures that depend on termites for habitat.

What eats CEO's?

The SEC?

When

But didn't in generations past and therefore do not need to now.

I think thats rude for the termites. :(

Point well taken. Same issue as with shareholders since it's not like companies really belong to a family anymore with a reputation on the line, like their name being in the company name.

I don't think the semiconductor business is so much like that - it's become more ingrained in them that you need to manage the business for long-term sustainability.

Yeah CAPEX for semiconductors is terrifying. They cannot just handwave away large fractions of a decade, especially with the lead time for equipment.

Except that in this case it's no longer 'collect money, move on to the next one'. It's 'collect money, become dynastically-rich, retire in 3 quarters from now'. After that, who cares.

This seems like a distinction without a difference. In the context of CEOs sacrificing the greater good for their bonus, [basically] nobody has done that for a $250k bonus. We're often talking 8 figures, tens of millions of dollars.

Is this really a categorically different thing if we're talking about $85 million vs. $12 million?

I've met dozens of ~$20M net worth people, they are just normal folks - in rich countries thats not even upper class money, thats "a nice home but thats it" kind of cash. $100M+ is "i can retire at will", while $500M are like a different species, surrounded by yes-men and usually quite damaged mentally from all the ass-kissing. So yeah, i think there is a meaningful distinction.

Stop smoking the stash

It's worse, sometimes even governments fail due to overconfidence.

Brazil and the UK (well, technically Japan) caused 2 natural rubber price spikes that first led to the UK smuggling rubber tree seeds to be imported to Malaysia, where the UK took over global natural rubber production, marginalizing Brazil.

Then Japan conquered the Malaysia during WW2, at which point everyone started developing artificial rubber and natural rubber was reduced to a much smaller market.

> They want to maximize their paychecks and bonuses in the short term before they leave to other companies.

You could say that about pretty much any employee - and you'd be completely wrong. What makes you right in the case of CEOs and boards?

> You could say that about pretty much any employee - and you'd be completely wrong. What makes you right in the case of CEOs and boards?

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/30/us-ceo-pay-grew-20-times-fas...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com