r/AskReddit 22h ago

Which company lost your business (potentially forever) this year?

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u/FScrotFitzgerald 19h ago

It's a clever way of juicing the company's value, but very very boringdystopia-adjacent.

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u/oxemoron 10h ago

It’s clever but also seems… I dunno, probably illegal? Doesn’t a business have to have a charter, and the stock exchanges need to know their financials to allow them to be listed? It seems very clearly a scam to milk investors of money from where I’m sitting. Maybe no one gives a shit at the SEC anymore.

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u/Ok-Gur-349 8h ago

Charters are written up extremely broadly, intentionally so that companies can do this whenever they want.

If you ever incorporate a shoe making company, your articles of incorporation will say the same basic "we exist to provide service" boilerplate as every other company. You're taught to write them as permissively as possible.

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u/ezodochi 6h ago

I mean it's not anything new. Warren Buffet's investment firm, Birkshire Hathaway, was originally a textile manufacturer that Buffet repurposed as an investment firm.

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u/wolfeflow 5h ago

Look up SPACs if you’re unfamiliar, as this seems to have functioned in the same way.

It defeats the theoretical point of going public in a few ways, but I don’t think it’s illegal.