[watwut]

Except that those people did not got punished. Their careers went up just fine. Those people changed jobs to different companies long before any accounting reality happened.

And accounting reality did not happened to companies that were buying IBM, it happened to IBM. That is difference.

[WalterBright]

If a company promotes/hires people who make decisions deleterious to the company's financials, that company will be less profitable and the stock price will be less.

I.e. the market corrects for things.

[ido]

Eventually, sometimes. After billions have been spent/wasted. Companies the size (and with the cash cows) of Apple/Google/MS/etc can make atrocious decisions for decades before they go down.

[watwut]

First, that does not make those people punished. At best it make the company punished.

Second, it does not seem like those companies were punished in any measurable way.

[WalterBright]

> Second, it does not seem like those companies were punished in any measurable way.

Less profit adds up.