Re: Kodak

[P3D Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>]

John Ohrt wrote:
> 
> What matters is do the investors have the guts to go for long term gain
> or do they go by yesterday's bottom line.

Sorry to be off topic, but...

With publicly held companies such as Kodak or Microsoft, the investors
are the shareholders. There are millions of them. They are neither
collectively "gutted" or "gutless," they simply expect what all
stockholders of publically held entities expect, for the officers of the
corporation to excercise their fiduciary responsibility.

The fiduciary responsibility of the officers of publically held
companies is the drive quarterly profits and to show quarterly growth.
Period. Like Allen W, I personally decry it as an untimate or singular
goal, and believe it contributes to some very unfortunate and
destructive ecomonic pressures and resultant social consequence. But
that is reality in corporate America as we currently know it.

It is true that in an extreme minority of cases there are rather
notorious major shareholders/investors. Some, such as Warran Buffit
measure fiscal performance based on the long term (5 years or more).
There are also those in the other camp, such as CBS' Mel Karmizan, who
want PE ratios increasing at double digits every quarter. But the
overwhelming majority of publically held companies do not have to
contend with such individuals, and the owners are just plain folks like
you and me.


Eric G.


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