[billyhoffman]

If its not growing, for from many investors, yes, that is a failure.

I have $1. I can do many things with it. Why would I give my $1 to someone in exchange for a piece of their business if that business is not growing when I could instead give that $1 to someone who is growing? I want my $1 to become worth more.

Yes, yes yes, I know companies that pay dividends or profit sharing, etc. However what's the return on those? It is higher than somewhere else?

Divorce yourself from thinking about what the company does or ever how much money it is making. For many investors, they are looking for opportunities to put in some money, get an asset, and then sell that asset for a profit. Growth is key to forecasting returns and thus comparing different investment opportunities.

[st3v3r]

"If its not growing, for from many investors, yes, that is a failure."

Then those investors should go invest in something else, and quit trying to push a bunch of shortsighted crap on a company.

[billyhoffman]

I get what you are saying, and even agree to an extent. The fact that Dell had to take itself private to be able to save itself is a good recent example of how the super short term thinking of stock market investors can hurt a company.

That said, if a company doesn't want to be exposed to that sort of investor, then it shouldn't have done IPO and become a publicly traded company.

[oldmanjay]

You understand that "they" in your opinion refers to the people who own yahoo. Why is your opinion more relevant than theirs, precisely?

[st3v3r]

Why is their opinion more relevant than the people that are actually running Yahoo?

[kansface]

The investors (ie, the board) run Yahoo, not the other way around.