[jstanley]

I don't understand why this type of comment comes up every time a big company gets a big fine. It seems no big fine is big enough to satisfy people.

It is crazy to think they don't care about losing $332M. Of course they care! That's an enormous amount of money no matter how big you are.

It's enough money to pay for literally hundreds of engineers to work full-time for multiple years to solve the problem.

The point that you don't care about a $332M fine is the point you stop bothering to run the business at all.

[martin82]

Maybe 332M was a lot when you were a child. Thanks to compounding monetary inflation year after year, 332M is actually not much any more. It's enough though to make normal people believe that some kind of justice has been served.

[tomhoward]

No, it's a big amount of money, particularly if it happens repeatedly. Governments have responded to companies' practice of just breaking laws and taking the hit, by continuing to push fines up to they point that they really do hurt and drive down the share price, which directly hurts the wealth of the senior executives and directors.

Bayer's share price is 70% down off its 2015 peak and 65% off its peak since the Monsanto acquisition bid was launched, and has even dropped 30% in just the past 6-7 months. These fines and judgements, and the worry that they may keep happening into the future, are definitely damaging the company.