The discount rate is doing a lot of work here. There is a discount rate such that we're not talking about shortsightedness. Getting it right is difficult. But as an example, how much would you buy an investment that pays a hundred dollars, guaranteed, next year for? Trivially, the discount rate includes at least the expected amount of inflation; it's not worth a dollar.
For assets line like IP you have to factor in how risky the returns are, how much investment you'd have to make to see them (e.g. making a movie), and overall strategy (do we want to be in that line of business).
All this to say - if you have IP that pays 10 million a year, you can value future returns on that IP in today's dollars. If someone offers you more than that to buy it, you should take the deal; you come out ahead.
For assets line like IP you have to factor in how risky the returns are, how much investment you'd have to make to see them (e.g. making a movie), and overall strategy (do we want to be in that line of business).
All this to say - if you have IP that pays 10 million a year, you can value future returns on that IP in today's dollars. If someone offers you more than that to buy it, you should take the deal; you come out ahead.