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Love the FTC getting to decide if you’re permitted to sell your startup or forced to deliver more shareholder value.
by DenverR 1y ago
Love the FTC getting to decide if you’re permitted to sell your startup or forced to deliver more shareholder value.
- BobAliceInATree 1y ago$20 billion sell price is no longer a “startup”
- mosura 1y agoIndeed, in a week Meta will offer that to an ML undergrad as a signing bonus.
- linotype 1y agoAs an investor that can’t invest in private companies, I love it unsarcastically.
- breadwinner 1y agoIf a big company in dominant position is allowed to gobble up any and all upstart competitors that's bad for competition, and it is the FTC's job to preserve competition.
- DenverR 1y agoHow was Figma able to generate any value operating in Adobe’s powerful monopoly?
- schmorptron 1y agosignificantly better product with no mature comparable adobe counterpart
- kelnos 1y agoI do love it. Companies don't exist solely to enrich their founders, they exist to provide a benefit to society. There needs to be a balance, of course, but if allowing a sale does not benefit society, then we should not allow it. > your startup You're under the misconception that companies "belong" to individuals. Companies are legal frameworks that society has decided upon. We could legally decide that M&A just isn't allowed, ever, if we wanted to. (I don't think that would be a good idea, but I hope you see my point.)
- DenverR 1y agoCongratulations you’ve just described central planning. So “society” should be able to veto a sale, but when payroll is due the owners are on the hook?
- samrus 1y agoReductionist. Your phrasing it like the onky options are full central planning and libertarianism. Theyre both wrong. You need the free market to do what it is capable of, and regulate it when its isnt. The free market was going to let monopolies form. We have all already agreed thats bad. Khan's policies just updated that to the tech sphere
- mistercheph 1y agoActually, the owners not being on the hook when payroll comes due and the business is out of cash is exactly the protection that society has extended to incorporated businesses. But I'd be happy to horse trade unregulated m&a activity for owners, boardmembers and executives having full liability exposure, financial and criminal.
- bagacrap 1y agoIt's also not "your" startup once there are shareholders, including employees. If it's a one person shop, then sure it's "yours", and the FTC can't block you from being hired (that I'm aware).
- kccqzy 1y agoIt sounds like you are actually upset at Congress, which created FTC and gave it the power to decide if you can sell your startup. FTC is just doing the job prescribed by Congress.