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Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

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Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#41

Post by babyshake »

ryandvm wrote: post #31
samwillis wrote: post #17

I would usually argue that there is no way the Facebook/Meta would die (it almost certainly wont) and so the question is redundant. However because of the way Meta share ownership is structured Zuckerberg has complete control and the board/shareholders cannot eject him. Most (every?) other public company would go through multiple leadership changes over their lifetime as shareholders exert control. Zuckerberg seems t…

Fascinating. Looking forward to when Zuck hits his mid 40s and ends up self-immolating Meta in the most glorious mid-life crisis the world has ever seen. [Source: I'm in my 40s and could easily imagine cratering a trillion dollar company I created in a quixotic quest to make the world a better place.]

Frankly, I think the whole Meta rebranding seems like a bit of a manic impulsive decision. Of course I know there is more to it than that but there's a not insignificant chance that it was the turning point in the company's decline, if the whole Oculus/metaverse thing doesn't in fact play out in the next couple years.

Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#42

Post by willturman »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #27

If Meta dies the economy will follow. Meta isnt going anywhere. If Oracle is employees massive amount of people Meta will for a long time to come. Look past one quarters earning reports.

> If Meta dies the economy will follow

Can you expand on this? I see a company that produces net-negative societal value going through a process of price discovery. Facebook/Meta offer nothing beyond a shrinking user base to advertisers.

Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#43

Post by samwillis »

ryandvm wrote: post #31
samwillis wrote: post #17

I would usually argue that there is no way the Facebook/Meta would die (it almost certainly wont) and so the question is redundant. However because of the way Meta share ownership is structured Zuckerberg has complete control and the board/shareholders cannot eject him. Most (every?) other public company would go through multiple leadership changes over their lifetime as shareholders exert control. Zuckerberg seems t…

Fascinating. Looking forward to when Zuck hits his mid 40s and ends up self-immolating Meta in the most glorious mid-life crisis the world has ever seen. [Source: I'm in my 40s and could easily imagine cratering a trillion dollar company I created in a quixotic quest to make the world a better place.]

You could be on to something there, "he" has just "rebranded" and asked us to refer to himself under a "cool" new name and new look. Plus he is trying to start the cult of the Metaverse where we will all transcend to a new plane of existence... this does sound a lot like a mid life crisis to me.

Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#44

Post by slg »

chrisdbanks wrote: post #25
tablespoon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Meta's death (if it happened), will be a slow and a long one. Exactly, there's no way Meta will suddenly disappear and go poof, barring some kind of extreme government action or bizarre corpora-cidal action by its controlling shareholder Mark Zuckerberg.

I'm sure that's what MySpace investors thought.

Doesn't that prove their point? MySpace has been in a slow death that has taken decades, but even now it still isn't completely dead. Considering Meta is so much bigger than MySpace was at its peak, I don't see why we would expect the death of Meta to be sudden.

Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#45

Post by parkingrift »

fargo wrote: post #38
parkingrift wrote: post #11

I belligerently hate Meta, but it's pretty wild to speculate that a company with 1.9 billion users will just up and die. A slow death on the order of 10-20 years may happen but I doubt React will still be popular by that time no matter what happens with Meta.

2.9 billion users https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly...

I don’t know where Statista gets their numbers but Meta reported their active users this week at 1.92B. It was a drop from 1.93B which is partially why their stock tanked.

Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#46

Post by mcast »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #36
samwillis wrote: post #17

I would usually argue that there is no way the Facebook/Meta would die (it almost certainly wont) and so the question is redundant. However because of the way Meta share ownership is structured Zuckerberg has complete control and the board/shareholders cannot eject him. Most (every?) other public company would go through multiple leadership changes over their lifetime as shareholders exert control. Zuckerberg seems t…

> However because of the way Meta share ownership is structured Zuckerberg has complete control How is it structured at a quick brief high level? Just the common "he owns 50.1% of the company in terms of # shares?"

Zuckerberg holds around 60% of control*, see https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000132680118... at page 38

Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#47

Post by reaperducer »

samwillis wrote: post #17

I would usually argue that there is no way the Facebook/Meta would die (it almost certainly wont) and so the question is redundant. However because of the way Meta share ownership is structured Zuckerberg has complete control and the board/shareholders cannot eject him. Most (every?) other public company would go through multiple leadership changes over their lifetime as shareholders exert control. Zuckerberg seems t…

because of the way Meta share ownership is structured Zuckerberg has complete control and the board/shareholders cannot eject him

Tech companies are notoriously bad at succession planning.

Car crash. Plane crash. Heart attack. Stroke. Slippery floor on your super-yacht.

There are a million ways for a CEO's tenure to suddenly and unexpectedly end. Yet the heads of these companies still act like nothing will ever change, even when they're old enough to know better.

Re: Ask HN: If Meta dies will React follow?

#49

Post by _fat_santa »

React has far too much investment from major companies to die. If something happened to Meta (metaverse doesn't work out and they are chopped up and sold off for parts), React would most likely be spun off into a Apache style foundation (ie. "The React Foundation")
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