this post was submitted on 02 May 2024
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Asklemmy
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I understand it to mean the general life cycle of corporations: first valuing users, then shareholders, then themselves, then dying. A quote from Doctorow:
By that definition, everything you described is a likely consequence of enshittification (paying employees less, charging more, more ads, etc.). But the word itself refers to how the company's values shift over time.
This seems similar to Wall Street's "profits must increase every quarter" approach. Once a business gets somewhat popular, Wall St. types start sniffing around and offer to take it public. Once public, Wall St. wrings more profits out of the business every quarter until service/products collapse and customers flee elsewhere.
Exactly. Whatever product or service a business provides, once it goes public, the primary goal becomes profit--everything else is secondary and subject to removal if it promotes the primary objective. Shareholders don't care about the long-term viability of the business--once it peaks, they'll sell and move on. Basically a financial swarm of locusts.
Egads. Perfect anology. I'm going to steal that one. Thank you!
At a certain point, a company’s primary product becomes its stock. Share buybacks, short term gains, etc become the strategy. The goal is no longer to create value for customers, but to create value for shareholders.
That's a very concise point. Thank you for this insight.