Comment by epolanski
3 days ago
> Google is owned by institutional investors, while Igalia is owned by employees, which the audience applauded.
Between 63 and 68% of Google is owned by households, directly or via funds.
I'm not sure why would it be more fair for a company to be private and owned by its workers, versus being owned by anybody who wants to.
Because individual investors, and especially individual investors lumped together via a fund, have all the incentives for profit maximization and no incentives for quality of work or quality of workers' lives, except insofar as it is reflected in profits.
"Anybody who wants to" is precisely the problem -- there's no correlation between a rando's wishes and the health of a project or working environment. You need people with skin in the game, and in the right game.
> Because individual investors, and especially individual investors lumped together via a fund, have all the incentives for profit maximization and no incentives for quality of work or quality of workers' lives, except insofar as it is reflected in profits.
That's up to regulators to fix.
As an investor a company's duty is towards shareholders.