Worst thing American business ever did was listen to Milton Friedman. Guy had it entirely wrong, conceptualized economics in a vacuum. He never believed in democracy, only greed.
10 replies (most recent on top)
OP is an id--t. Stankey and RLS were just really sh---y at their jobs, and the board didn't have the stones to send them packing. John Donavan too
- should have cut dividend a long time ago
- fired them both for cause years before they were (will be gone)
- focused on core competencies. Saw so many rich tech evaluations and got greedy thinking we could boost the multiple. Lost site of core business.
Shareholders / board have paid for the board's and CEO's incompetence.
better off following gordon gecko, "Greed is good."
Milton Greedman was a myopic bufoon. The vast majority of the country's problems are due to CEOs and right-wing politicians buying into his one note symphony of boosting shareholder value at any cost. Tax inversions, offshoring, perma-temp contracting, benefits cuts, financial engineering and a trashed environment are the results. To his acolytes, shareholder value and the compensation that is directly tied to share price, are the only things that matter. It is no wonder that 50% of the populace is so pi---d off that they are willing to vote again for a demagogic seditionist who has racked up 91 felony counts. Nihilism is not the answer. Democracy takes work. The Donald/Jared and Joe/Hunter duopolies are two sides of the same kleptocratic coin. This is going to be one helluva an election cycle. Reagan busting the PATCO union was the inflection point that started this mess. I hope the UAW strike grinds on long enough to be the inflection point that helps labor re-assert itself.
Economics is beyond the intellectual abilities of OP. Maybe remain silent rather than exposing your ignorance.
Hubris, Greed, ate hallmarks for this Leadership Team.
Most of you young clucks were not around when management worked with labor to support our customer base. 3 legged stool analogy, labor, management, customers all worked together to build company value and profit. Milton Friedman told everyone” management’s only responsibility is to share holder profits” . The new reasoning behind such bad decisions as T-Mobile, Time Warner, continuing outsourcing of work, all based on nothing more then greed. No integrity, no morality, no loyalty.
What's done is done. AT&T will never retire $140B of debt. Maybe file Chapter 11 to eliminate debt?
So this had nothing to do with DirecTV and TW acquisition and various missteps by Randall and Stankey, is that what you are saying ?
On a tangent, I have a bridge to sell for a measly amount of 10,000 USD.
Well Stephenson and the board of directors were Free to Choose expensive M&A, that's for sure. I don't Friedman had much to do with bad strategic decisions at AT&T however.
U sound like a financial cuck. Get some equity bro