Who Are My Investors? • Hacker News Board

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#161

Post by gbear605 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:34 AM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #152

kenneth wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bit confused by the wording, but I think you're trying to say that to a sovereign wealth fund, investment opportunities are essentially fungible because they're allocating their money over a large portfolio. So if one of the big VCs or tech companies won't take their money, another will and in a diversified portfolio that's good enough.

> So if one of the big VCs or tech companies won't take their money, another will and in a diversified portfolio that's good enough. Right, except that we're talking about smaller companies rather than larger ones, so it's even worse because there are more of them. Restricting who can own a large publicly traded company which is a part of the major index funds would be... impractical. Which actually brings up another…

I'd guess that you could be required to sign a contract when you buy a stake that says that if you want to sell it or get bought out or merge, they also have to sign the contract. It's not realistic, but I don't see any reason why it couldn't happen.

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#162

Post by howlgram » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:38 AM UTC

readhn wrote: post #153

howlgram wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want to mention that Gaddafi brought a lot of development to Libya and his death did nothing for his people. It's easy to say "oh he was a dictator and dictators are bad" but it's not so simple.

the same could be said about a lot of dictators. these guys make it so that there is no other option (by killing opponents) for the country.

>by killing opponents

Gaddafi's rise to power was a bloodless Coup [1], from the little understanding that I have, he was beloved by many Libyans, you should question where these "militias" that took him down came from, his dying words were 'What did I do to you?' [2], and you should question for what reasons should he be considered "tyrannical". Should you look at Libya today, it is ran by territorial gangs, which is antithetical to the idea that they rid themselves of a great evil. Finally I haven't fully educated myself on this, but it's very interesting, just reading the "Background" part of the Libyan Civil War wiki article makes you wonder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2011)#Backgr...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Libyan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/23/gaddafi-last-w...

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#163

Post by cocacola1 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:39 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #110

I've come across this problem a few times when running a hedge fund. To what degree does one care where the money came from, aside from following AML rules? I get the feeling you only write articles like that if you have more people wanting to invest than you have capacity for. - A friend called, asking for a recommendation for a job he was applying for. And advice about whether it was worth taking. Turned out, it wa…

I can understand why people would take blood money or seedy money (so long as it's legal from their end). I just don't understand why they can't admit to themselves that it's a little evil and go about their business like they'd do anyways. Nothing changes except you feel a little bad about yourself, probably, and the rest of us don't have to hear as many excuses.

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#164

Post by thebiglebrewski » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:43 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #110

I've come across this problem a few times when running a hedge fund. To what degree does one care where the money came from, aside from following AML rules? I get the feeling you only write articles like that if you have more people wanting to invest than you have capacity for. - A friend called, asking for a recommendation for a job he was applying for. And advice about whether it was worth taking. Turned out, it wa…

Sounds like your someone finding reasons and excuses? You definitely can draw the line somewhere, many people do. It's not a binary choice and it sounds like you helped and encouraged some bad people. At least you have tons of money now, presumably, which...makes you more happy?

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#165

Post by megy » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 2:13 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #110

I've come across this problem a few times when running a hedge fund. To what degree does one care where the money came from, aside from following AML rules? I get the feeling you only write articles like that if you have more people wanting to invest than you have capacity for. - A friend called, asking for a recommendation for a job he was applying for. And advice about whether it was worth taking. Turned out, it wa…

> Was I going to tell him not to take the job? How complicit are you if you write some exchange connectors for a dictator? He ended up taking it, and they ended up in the news.

NO, but you should have told him what you knew and let him make the decision.

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#166

Post by grapehut » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 2:15 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #110

I've come across this problem a few times when running a hedge fund. To what degree does one care where the money came from, aside from following AML rules? I get the feeling you only write articles like that if you have more people wanting to invest than you have capacity for. - A friend called, asking for a recommendation for a job he was applying for. And advice about whether it was worth taking. Turned out, it wa…

> I get the feeling you only write articles like that if you have more people wanting to invest than you have capacity for.

I get the opposite feeling. I suspect such virtue signalling is an attempt to attract investors who care about ethics, and perhaps more importantly accept your investment offers.

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#167

Post by 3pt14159 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 2:22 AM UTC

Baeocystin wrote: post #111

3pt14159 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually agree with this line of thinking, and even personally I wouldn't take money from some people like Peter Thiel because of his political actions, but I don't try to get others to do the same. I advocate for systemic or political changes or—if those are hard because of mismatched incentives or low information voters—propaganda, think tank funding, and lobbying to try to fix things. Take plastics use, for examp…

>Take plastics use, for example, it's better to focus energy on banning them completely than to check each and every shampoo personally for microbeads. The vast majority (>90%) of the plastic waste in the world's oceans comes from a few rivers in asia that run through countries that have minimal to no garbage collection/sanitation services for the cities that border the rivers. Investing in appropriate waste manageme…

That isn't the same issue as microbeads though, because those hit our tributary rivers and lakes where ecosystems are less resilient. But even if you are right (and I'm more than willing to change my mind here) it only speaks to my larger point: Let's focus on the real problems at their source instead of putsing around with micro feel-good-measures.

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#168

Post by magicbuzz » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 2:30 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #110

I've come across this problem a few times when running a hedge fund. To what degree does one care where the money came from, aside from following AML rules? I get the feeling you only write articles like that if you have more people wanting to invest than you have capacity for. - A friend called, asking for a recommendation for a job he was applying for. And advice about whether it was worth taking. Turned out, it wa…

If you don't draw the line at dictatorships that grind up American journalists - where do you draw the line?

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#169

Post by lchengify » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 2:44 AM UTC

howlgram wrote: post #162

readhn wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the same could be said about a lot of dictators. these guys make it so that there is no other option (by killing opponents) for the country.

>by killing opponents Gaddafi's rise to power was a bloodless Coup [1], from the little understanding that I have, he was beloved by many Libyans, you should question where these "militias" that took him down came from, his dying words were 'What did I do to you?' [2], and you should question for what reasons should he be considered "tyrannical". Should you look at Libya today, it is ran by territorial gangs, which i…

"Evidence gathered by Reuters in the provincial town of Khoms shows an organised system of repression with methods including delivering electric shocks to suspects' genitals, keeping them for weeks in baking heat with only a few sips of water a day, and whipping them with an electrical cable while their hands were bound with plastic ties."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianoc...

Re: Who Are My Investors?

#170

Post by thoughtstheseus » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 2:47 AM UTC

An added issue here is that most money flowing from SWFs have a significantly lower return target(cheaper money- in my experience), as compared to nearly every domestic funding source.