<story><title>Ousted Founder of Men’s Wearhouse Watches His Old Company Struggle</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/business/george-zimmer-former-face-of-mens-wearhouse-watches-his-old-company-struggle.html?ref=business&amp;_r=0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mschuster91</author><text>&amp;gt; It’s curious we’ve allowed capitalism to become all about shareholders.&lt;p&gt;For god&amp;#x27;s sake I hope this view becomes more prevalent.&lt;p&gt;Viewing economy only through shareholder&amp;#x27;s eyes leads to a focus on only short-term gains - which might destroy the company in the future but who cares when stock goes up 10% in a quarter?&lt;p&gt;Fuck this shit. The economy would fare a LOT better in my eyes if any investor over a certain threshold (10k?) was forced to hold the stock in question for 12 months at a minimum, similar to the waiting periods startup founders&amp;#x2F;co-owners have to endure before they&amp;#x27;re allowed to sell their stock.&lt;p&gt;Such a move would instantly kill off those greedy funds which make a company go deep into debt, pay the money from these debts to the shareholders (i.e. the fund(s)) and then go bankrupt.&lt;p&gt;edit: also, such a move would prevent people from investing in crapps like Yo, which got at least $2.5M in funding...</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>WalterBright</author><text>If it was true that the market wanted to destroy companies for short term gains, you&amp;#x27;d make a fortune by shorting the stocks.&lt;p&gt;The reality is, stock prices are a reflection of anticipated future value. If shareholders get wind that the company is destroying its future value, they&amp;#x27;ll dump the stock as fast as possible.&lt;p&gt;Plenty of companies have high P&amp;#x2F;Es, meaning that shareholders are &lt;i&gt;clearly&lt;/i&gt; in it for the long term.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ousted Founder of Men’s Wearhouse Watches His Old Company Struggle</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/business/george-zimmer-former-face-of-mens-wearhouse-watches-his-old-company-struggle.html?ref=business&amp;_r=0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mschuster91</author><text>&amp;gt; It’s curious we’ve allowed capitalism to become all about shareholders.&lt;p&gt;For god&amp;#x27;s sake I hope this view becomes more prevalent.&lt;p&gt;Viewing economy only through shareholder&amp;#x27;s eyes leads to a focus on only short-term gains - which might destroy the company in the future but who cares when stock goes up 10% in a quarter?&lt;p&gt;Fuck this shit. The economy would fare a LOT better in my eyes if any investor over a certain threshold (10k?) was forced to hold the stock in question for 12 months at a minimum, similar to the waiting periods startup founders&amp;#x2F;co-owners have to endure before they&amp;#x27;re allowed to sell their stock.&lt;p&gt;Such a move would instantly kill off those greedy funds which make a company go deep into debt, pay the money from these debts to the shareholders (i.e. the fund(s)) and then go bankrupt.&lt;p&gt;edit: also, such a move would prevent people from investing in crapps like Yo, which got at least $2.5M in funding...</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>blfr</author><text>The reason people view the economy through the shareholders&amp;#x27; eyes is because very many of them are shareholders and count on the stock market to pay for their retirement. It&amp;#x27;s also the opposite of looking only for short-term gains.</text></comment>