[ILUG] Mother of God!

[Thomas Bridge]

On 2/16/06, Colm MacCarthaigh <colm at stdlib.net> wrote:

> In a way, right now it is, or they believe it is. Strategic activism
> works well when you target your campaigns to what you actually change
> and will make a difference.

It isn't going to change.      Google aren't going to change this
decision because they probably had little choice as a business.

My (albeit limited) understanding of Corporate Law in both England[1]
and the US is that the board and executives are obliged to act in the
interests of the shareholders.   This is why the Manchester United
board had no alternative but to recommend the Glazer takeover, despite
the much nastier and relatively larger protests it generated,  and why
Google really had no alternative but to do what they did.

You lost this argument at the point Google floated, not at that the
point they cut a deal with the PRC, just as the United fans lost the
argument over Glazer when the club was originally floated in the early
1990s.

T.

[1] Scottish law apparently is different in that other interests may
also be considered.   Scotland is run by more left wing people than
either England or the US.
--
Thomas Bridge
CCIE  #14108