Isn’t that a prerequisite for enshitification? Publicly-traded companies are required (by law, I think) to maximize profits for their shareholders, even if that means utterly ruining their original product (Reddit, Boeing, etc.), yes? What do you think?

  • Barry Zuckerkorn@beehaw.org
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    6 months ago

    After being acquired by Google, YouTube got better for years (before getting worse again). Android really improved for a decade or so after getting acquired by Google.

    The Next/Apple merger made the merged company way better. Apple probably wouldn’t have survived much longer without Next.

    I’d argue the Pixar acquisition was still good for a few decades after, and probably made Disney better.

    A good merger tends to be forgotten, where the two different parts work together seamlessly to the point that people forget they used to be separately run.