I wonder if this doesn't point to a market inefficiency that someone could take advantage of. A company that focused on research specifically, patenting and marketing relevant discoveries or spinning of subsidiary companies to exploit research they are doing.

I know it isn't the tenure track positions that are mentioned in the articles. But a company like this could potentially pay substantially more than the academic institutions,and give them a more immediate opportunity to publish as a primary investigator.

Those additional publishing opportunities may allow them to even return to the academic field if they chose to later on.

Just something I was mulling over while reading the article.