James Emanuel on Clouded Judgement

They've dug themselves so deep into a hole that they can't find their way back out. It's greed. But as Charlie Munger used to say, 'if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!' This is where the regulator needs to step in, but the SEC has been asleep at the wheel. Do I want to invest in a company that taxes me to enrich insiders? It doesn't matter that it has the right tech - it won't be a good investment. Look at Twitter. Right model in the right place at the right time, just as social media took off. But its IPO price was ~$45 and it went private at about the same price a decade later. It never paid a dividend, so shareholders had a miserable decade. Zero return. Negative returns in real terms accounting for inflation. Can you guess what happened to Jack Dorsey, its CEO? He took his wealth over the same period from zero to $4.5billion. He was taxing shareholders through SBC. Still want to invest in these tech companies with corrupt management focused only on enriching themselves? I avoid any company with egregious SBC. No room for negotiation. Either the management are aligned with shareholders (Buffett style) or they are not. If they're aligned I'll invest, if not I'll take my capital elsewhere.