Kairos
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-232d

Thats not true. Privately owned firms tend to be really bad because they don’t have a feduciary duty to long term value. They suck everything dry. Private equity is the reason why daycare costs so much yet the daycare workers make minimum wage.

Steam just happens to be fine under private ownership because it makes enough profit for Gabe to be satisfied.

@[email protected]
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Thats PE firms, not the same as private owned companies. THERE WAS only one istance of a hybrid of PE and private owned sitaution, SEARS.

Kairos
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19h

How exactly are they different?

@[email protected]
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13h

I assume they mean private equity vs privately owned. Private equity would mean you have to bow to your investor since they are paying you. Privately owners make their own decisions without needing to answer to an investor

@[email protected]
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31d

Gross oversimplification of Private vs Public. We are really taking about three kinds of ownership models, if arguing in good faith.

  1. The people that are invested in the company, usually the people that built it, are at the helm.

  2. The people that built it took a payout from Private Equity who now have ownership stake, and who now set the growth agenda.

  3. The compant is now public, and given to the irrational whims if the ENTIRE marketplace, while at the same time primarily being at the whims of the board and the largest few investor stakeholders.

Steam has largely existed exclusively in the first category. So have most of the oldest businesses in the planet, which are often family-owned and maintained operations across generations.

@[email protected]
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352d

Privately owned is not the same thing as private equity. https://irely.com/private-equity-or-privately-owned-does-it-matter/

Kairos
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-72d

The first sentence

When you choose a software vendor, do you question how the company is financed? Should that be part of your evaluation?

This article seems to be about the ethos of private equity. Legally they’re nearly identical.

@[email protected]
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019h

Well done missing the point.

Kairos
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-219h

Holy fucking shit Lemmy is becoming like Reddit. Can you guys learn to think please. This whole thing stated because I replied to this message

As long as it remains privately owned, it should be OK. The day shares go public, god forbid, will be the beginning of the end.

With something “that’s not true because private equity is bad and that’s still privately owned” and you all act like I said that all private ownership is identical to private equity.

This is a very plausable thing that can happen to Steam. Doesn’t Gabe not have kids?

Like what the fuck?? Am I going insane? Am I dreaming?

@[email protected]
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17h

Am I going insane?

I’m not ruling it out ;⁠)

Getting bought out by a private equity firm would be pretty dire for them as that never ends well, but that’s not what I was talking about and I thought that was pretty clear, but you responded as though it was. ‘Legally’ they may be the same, but they’re functionally very different, as the article I linked pointed out, but you chose to keep digging.

Whatever. You’re right. Have a cookie.

Kairos
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-117h

‘Legally’ they may be the same, but they’re functionally very different

Yes that’s what I said.

Caveman
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41d

Private equity is commonly referring to “owned by a private equity fund” like Blackrock. It often involves extracting unhealthy amount of short term profit to make the numbers look better then sell the business so they can record a profit.

Kairos
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119h

Yeah?..

Caveman
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211h

… and Gabe N owns more than 50% so it’s not really the same as owned by Blackrock. It’s still a founder owned and operated company.

Kairos
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110h

Yes. And it could end up being sold to an entity such as blackrock and still be “privately owned”

Caveman
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15h

Thats not true. Privately owned firms tend to be really bad because they don’t have a feduciary duty to long term value. They suck everything dry. Private equity is the reason why daycare costs so much yet the daycare workers make minimum wage.

I think we’re probably not on the same wavelength. Privately owned doesn’t mean bad, a one person owner operated plumbing business is not bad.

Publicly traded corporations are also really bad because the goal is increase in share price at the cost of long term success often. If you can show profit or revenue growth at the cost of losing customers by cutting costs that’s positive over there.

Single person ownership of a company where the person cares about the company providing good value instead of making money is very different from maximising profit or resale value.

So the dissonance I think mostly stems from the example of daycare that you made and your conclusion that private ownership is worse than publicly traded companies. If the daycare was publicly traded it would probably look the same since none of the owners really care about the staff. On the contrary an owner operated business often do care about staff and their development at the cost of their fiduciary duty.

Private equity would gut a business for cash. Publicly traded would syphon away all customer value to increase the stock price. Owner operated business normally does neither since it’s their baby.

@[email protected]
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152d

Sure, legally yes.

In practice, a lot of the time, not even close.

Kairos
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-52d

Yes that’s what I said.

@[email protected]
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21d

Privately owned firms tend to be really bad because they don’t have a feduciary duty to long term value.

Neither do publicly traded companies. All they are required to do is make money for shareholders, and most of them push for short-term value

Kairos
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-119h

The profits are taken away from the trading price, yes

Although it still helps the long term price

AwesomeLowlander
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52d

Privately owned firms tend to be really bad because they don’t have a feduciary duty to long term value

You say that as if publicly traded firms do

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