Luke Janssen
Jumping off stuffArchive for May, 2012
Profit and “Shareholder value” are just by-products
I read this article on Facebook recently. There were a few things that really resonated with me. First. Mark Zuckerberg goes against the grain and does things differently. He gets criticized for this, but honestly I think that he is right and the majority are wrong. Just look at what is happening with Wall St, and the inability to do the right thing in terms of regulation of risk.
One quote I agreed with: ”Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services,” wrote Zuckerberg in his letter to prospective shareholders. “And we think this is a good way to build something. These days I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits.” I think that Mark is right here, and we should re-think corporate objectives. Maximizing shareholder value should not be the only metric.
One guy who criticizes Mark seems to shoot himself in the foot: “Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, Zuckerberg’s attitude and attire symbolizes “a level of aloofness to stakeholders. He seems very customer focused and very employee focused. I am not sure he cares about anyone else… If he’s going to go public, he has to answer to shareholders,” Pachter says. “That’s why Google hired Eric Schmidt. That’s why Steve Jobs was ultimately forced out of Apple.” Hey Michael – Steve Jobs getting forced out of Apple was the wrong move!… you are using that as a positive point. And it isn’t. huh? Taking care of customers and employees means shareholders will be fine. Shareholder and profits are by products of well run companies who care about their employees and customers.
