YouTube disallowing adblockers, Reddit charging for API usage, Twitter blocking non-registered users. These events happen almost at the same time. Is this one of the effects of the tech bubble burst?

  • Panja
    28•1 year ago

    Companies expect infinite profit growth

    • lazynooblet
      4•1 year ago

      I always found this particularly odd. Is it greed, or some sort of business culture that is ingrained?

      • @[email protected]
        5•1 year ago

        Correct me if I’m wrong but this is baked into capitalism. Stocks are attractive to investors because they want to sell them for a higher price later on, and stock prices increase when the company grows.

        • lazynooblet
          2•1 year ago

          You’re right, thats a requirement for investing into a stocks value. A company can make a healthy flat profit every quarter and its direct benificiaries (investors, stock-holders, directors, owners) will be appropriately accomodated financially via dividends. It doesn’t need to be 30% growth year in year out. You start to add stock price, inflation, etc. and it gets complicated. I don’t understand it from then on.

          • @[email protected]
            1•1 year ago

            My understanding is a little shaky too. I suppose companies are incentivized to target infinite growth so they can get the most money out of the stocks they hold, but this is a culture and greed thing, not a hard requirement.

        • @statue_smudge
          1•1 year ago

          Not every stock has to be a growth stock, their value can be based on expectations of future dividends.

          However, tech stocks are priced assuming growth, so the owners would lose a lot of money if it becomes clear that growth is no longer possible.

          • @[email protected]
            1•1 year ago

            I know about dividends but decided to keep the comment simple. Aren’t dividends relevant only in utility and holding companies?

            • @statue_smudge
              1•1 year ago

              Kind of, because those sectors are widely known to not be growth-oriented. There is only so much demand for electricity for example.

              At one point that was probably a growth sector, but now it is ubiquitous. Perhaps someday some tech stocks could be focused on dividends rather than infinite growth.