other peoples money danny devito
Why Hacker News recommends it
Quoted in threads about declining companies and shrinking markets as a blunt statement of the case for liquidation.
What it is
The shareholder speech by Larry the Liquidator, played by Danny DeVito, from the film Other People's Money. He argues that a dying company should be liquidated rather than kept alive.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2013 to 2020.
What Hacker News said
Cites cs702 · 2013-07 · on “Ways to Save Barnes & Noble”
The best response to this is probably Larry the Liquidator's speech to shareholders of New England Wire & Cable, Inc., a fictional company in the movie "Other People's Money"[1]: Amen, and amen, and amen. You'll have to forgive me, I'm not familiar with the local custom. Where I come from, you always say 'Amen' after you hear a prayer. Because that's what you just heard - a prayer. Where I come from, that particular prayer is called 'The Prayer for the Dead.' You just heard The Prayer for the Dead, my fellow stockholders, and you didn't say, 'Amen.' This company is dead. I didn't kill it. Don't blame me. It was dead when I got here. It's too late for prayers. For even if the prayers were ans
Cites olalonde · 2015-11 · on “Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge”
Your first sentence reminds me of this speech by Danny DeVito aka "Larry the Liquidator" in "Other People's Money": [this video]
Cites hprotagonist · 2016-10 · on “Dennis Ritchie, 70, Dies, Programming Trailblazer”
[this video] >And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market.
Cites cs702 · 2020-04 · on “It's Time to Build for Good”
This essay is full of wishful expressions, such as "stagnation is a choice", "if we want to", and "we must circumvent", followed by exhortations to "regain the will" -- to do this or that thing for the good of everyone. It all sounds very reasonable, very worthwhile, very moral. As Larry the Liquidator would say, "Amen!"[a] Alas, I think the root of the problem is that companies and people have strong economic/competitive incentives NOT TO INVEST in the kind of expensive, robust (i.e., inefficient/redundant) socially beneficial infrastructure that everyone agrees is necessary but on which the payback is highly uncertain, highly diffuse, or might not be recouped until well after everyone aliv