undefined | Better HN

0 pointsEisenstein2y ago0 comments

Maybe I should have said 'stock traders'?

0 comments

My point is that shareholder capitalism doesn't necessarily lead to the short-term focus you describe. Shareholders can in fact be the group with the longest-term focus of all. They can still be there and care about the company long after the current C-suite are all gone.

nitwit0052y ago

While it's certainly possible for that to be true, it isn't in reality. The average holding period of a stock is 5.5 months.

People have proposed to not give people voting power as shareholders until they've held the stock for a period, because there is this huge population of investors that care nothing for the long term viability of thr company.

EisensteinOP2y ago

I don't think I have communicated what I meant. Stock traders would be people who trade stocks looking for return on investment through trading, not from investing in a company by holding stock.

NeverFade2y ago

Sure, but there's no fundamental reason for them to be the primary shareholders. The average holding time in the 1970s was 5 years.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

NeverFade2y ago

nitwit0052y ago

While it's certainly possible for that to be true, it isn't in reality. The average holding period of a stock is 5.5 months.

EisensteinOP2y ago

I don't think I have communicated what I meant. Stock traders would be people who trade stocks looking for return on investment through trading, not from investing in a company by holding stock.

NeverFade2y ago

Sure, but there's no fundamental reason for them to be the primary shareholders. The average holding time in the 1970s was 5 years.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse