|
Top-level
Cory Doctorow
The reality is that PE goons - like other financiers - are basically herding animals. *Everyone's* hit on the tactic of buying up beloved media companies - from the 150-year-old *Popular Science* to modern publications like CNet - and then filling them with spammy garbage in the hopes that Google will fail to notice and continue to award them pride-of-place on search results pages: https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task 17/ 4 comments
Cory Doctorow replied to Cory
PE - like other mafiosi - only have one business-plan, the "bust out," where you invade a business that produces useful things, force them to pay your chosen suppliers sky-high fees for things they don't need, extract massive fees for your "management" and then walk away from the collapse: https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/02/plunderers/#farben 19/
Cory Doctorow replied to Cory
I'm on tour with my new novel *The Bezzle*! Catch me TONIGHT in LA with @adamconover at Vroman's, then on MONDAY in SEATTLE with Neal Stephenson (Feb 26, Third Place Books). After that, it's Portland, Phoenix, Tucson, Anaheim and more! https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour eof/ 
Nicole Parsons replied to Cory
Parasites infect both healthy and unhealthy hosts. They alter their host organisms to suit the parasite. https://www.snexplores.org/article/parasitic-worms-alter-body-inflammation-immune-system-treatment In another example, vampire bats have similar strategies as hedge fund managers, of "feed & fly off". Although in the case of Chris Hohn, it's more "feed & eff off". |
Gregory's Server
The fact that these billionaire brain-geniuses can't figure out how to "turn around" a site whose workers a) produce brilliant, popular, successful work; and b) depart to found successful firms that commercialize that work tells you everything about their ability to spot "a good business opportunity."
18/