Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Shares: why bother?

The Contrarian Investor raises an issue I've been pondering recently: in today's financial climate, are stocks and shares old hat? They're only a market in what companies are willing to let the public invest.

If I were a rich entrepreneur who'd been smart enough to get into cash a year or two ago, I'd be looking to take my company back into private ownership, or buy another for a suitcaseful. Who wants to be told what to do by shareholders with bees in their bonnets, institutional investors looking to maximise profits like, NOW, and other goons? It's like being in a three-legged race with the fat kid.

Venture capital - is that the place to be?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sackerson!

Great minds think alike!

We have been re-evaluating our ideas of what it means to invest.

It's a different game today.

CityUnslicker said...

VC's success rate is under 5%. Not sure the model has ever worked - but pays well to do a fun job not involving much actual work.

Sackerson said...

CU, what a job ad you can write! And remember how the founder of IBM paid his secretary in shares, because he didn't have enough money for wages? I think her descendants are living well on them even now.

James Higham said...

Yes but it releases capital to be used elsewhere.