[bobthepanda]

The question is whether or not Google, either in its bank accounts or as X, is the best steward for funding innovation. One could argue that it isn’t, and they should’ve paid that cash out in dividends and leave their shareholders to do such work.

[dageshi]

As far as I recall the two google founders have controlling shares in the company. Page and Brin have 51% of voting power.

So they decide what google does with its money, not the other shareholders?

[bobthepanda]

Right, which is why I said “pay out their cash in dividends”, which go to any shareholder proportionally.

Tech stocks are weird compared to most company stocks because many of them have never issued dividends to shareholders, which is what companies traditionally do with excess cash.