[Paul T]

all companies exist to make money and maximize profits, but I think Jeff nailed it his posts. There has been a fundamental change in corporate mindset (across industries) in recent decades to maximize profit (and thus bonuses/pay packages) NOW! For the benefit of the CEO NOW! Long term strategic thinking with a focus on building the best possible product AND make a reasonable margin at the same time is all but gone. Today, any sacrifice that can be made to increase this years EPS will be greenlighted as CEO’s eye up their next vacation house. It’s not right, but it’s just the culture these days. Maximized shareholder value used to be done in concert with building a long and sustainable business model. Today, it’s all about how much $$ can we extract as soon as possible. Basically the private equity model has taken over public co’s in general….