Live data from Hacker News

NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

foxbusiness.com

201–210 of 477 posts

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to adopt an economic system that doesn't prize currency above human dignity.

Isn't that what communism/Marxism is supposed to be? "Each according to his ability to each according to his needs?"

"supposed to be" is the key part of the sentence.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#202
post #128

What if this blows up in the other direction ? How many Chinese will pay attention to "whatever those people are doing in Hong Kong" for the first time because of this ? Which is to say, what if lots of young Chinese stand up and take notice that they can't watch world class professional basketball anymore ? I am well aware that there is homegrown professional basketball in China, but the $4B number suggests they wan…

> Which is to say, what if lots of young Chinese stand up and take notice that they can't watch world class professional basketball anymore ?

It is arguably the Young that start this online campaign to call NBA out. The government/brands follow the suits.

The tension is high. I think watching NBA is soon to be deemed as unpatriotic by social media, and that will be one of the long-lasting legacy of this event.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#203
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Michael Jordan didn't say... "Republicans buy sneakers too." Billionaires didn't get to be billionaires by leaving money on the table. We need large scale political action against China.

Yes because I’m sure you know what's best for billions of Chinese. They must be all dying to overthrow their government. Your rhetoric is naive at best and racist at worst. It’s racist because you are disenfranchising the potential voice and sovereignty of a whole ethnicity and country because private interests in your own country can’t get their way over there. The hong kong protestors have started getting their way…

Might seem persnickety, but criticism of mainland China can't be racism because Taiwanese are the same race and people aren't criticising them for this kind of thing (because they don't do it). It's really not even criticism of the Chinese people, who have no say in the matter either way and tend to be harshly punished for disagreeing.

In the end it's all just criticism of a specific government. Doesn't need to go further than that.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#204
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$4B isn't a bump in stock prices though, right ? Anyway, I am not crying over the top 1% losing money over that, I am talking about the paycheck to paycheck workers whose means of subsistence depends on their employers doing okay. I am not saying Chinese products shouldn't be boycotted or that China shouldn't be pressured into aligning better with western values but who is going to pay in the end ?

If it's someone's job to dump raw industrial waste in the river, and stricter environmental regulations cause them to lose their job, I'm ok with that. That's why we have unemployment benefits, and why most countries do things like have health care that's separate from employment.

> If it's someone's job to dump raw industrial waste in the river, and stricter environmental regulations cause them to lose their job, I'm ok with that.

I am not talking about Chinese workers losing jobs, I am talking about US citizens being collateral damage next month when Random Mother Corpo ® decides to lay off an arbitrary number of workers way down the corporate ladder in order to compensate for the bad previsions for next quarter due to $4B of revenues disappearing from the market.

edit: I believe you are intentionally derailing the conversation by moving the goal post (by moving from US citizens concerns to other countries with healthcare and social net and then reframing the problem as an environmental problem).

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#205

It's not much of a dilemma though, is it? Already-rich folks kowtowing to fascists for a quick buck is beyond pathetic. US companies should stop targeting China for growth. If they don't steal your IP completely, they'll eventually freeze you out like they just did the NBA. It's happened to many companies and will eventually happen to you too. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Public companies can’t afford to do that. They’ve probably been aware that this can happen for many years. They simply had no choice because their competitors might beat them to market and their shareholders might sue them for shirking their fiduciary duty.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#206
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would anybody play sports then?

Not that I agree with the original, but that's a bit like asking why would anybody play music or make art (activities that rarely involve money)? Because they enjoy it.

Right, and taking this further: artists pay for the materials and services to do what they enjoy. If people enjoy watching competitive sports and are willing to pay, should they be banned from doing so?

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#207
post #96
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Self-made" is almost always a misnomer because there's a point very early in the process of accruing wealth where you use it to bootstrap its own operations, i.e., you start paying other people for their output to collect a net profit. At that point, "self-made" no longer applies because now other people are involved. At what point that transition happens determines how "self-made" they are, but no one is ever 100%…

Self made means that you didn't inherit your money, win it in lottery or somebody just gave it you. Self-made doesn't stop applying when other people are involved, that is just absurd.

English isn't my first language but self-made seems to me to be about the self as in opposition to others.

And I have always understood the word to be used in that sense.

See the Collins definition (emphasis mine):

Self-made is used to describe people who have become successful and rich through their own efforts, especially if they started life without money, education, or high social status.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/self-ma...

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#208

It's not much of a dilemma though, is it? Already-rich folks kowtowing to fascists for a quick buck is beyond pathetic. US companies should stop targeting China for growth. If they don't steal your IP completely, they'll eventually freeze you out like they just did the NBA. It's happened to many companies and will eventually happen to you too. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Public companies can’t afford to do that. They’ve probably been aware that this can happen for many years. They simply had no choice because their competitors might beat them to market and their shareholders might sue them for shirking their fiduciary duty.

So Google pulled out of China, and their shareholders didn't sue them (that I could find. Though even if they did, apparently it didn't cause them to go back into China). The shareholders did sue them to halt their plans for a censored Chinese search engine (which failed, but they tried).

Yes, a company has a fiduciary duty to shareholders, but there are lots of ways to fulfill that duty. There's no requirement that they expand into China. Many companies don't and it's fine

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#209

It's not much of a dilemma though, is it? Already-rich folks kowtowing to fascists for a quick buck is beyond pathetic. US companies should stop targeting China for growth. If they don't steal your IP completely, they'll eventually freeze you out like they just did the NBA. It's happened to many companies and will eventually happen to you too. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

The NBA has an advantage that other companies don't have. Their product can't be knocked off, and their talent level can't be matched by outside leagues. They have so much leverage to just walk away. The NBA is huge in China, fans will be more upset at their government than the NBA.

Re: NBA's China dilemma: $4B at risk as Chinese TV cancels game broadcasts

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is just flexing its financial muscle to try and tamp down what's going on in Hong Kong. The fact is, US companies does this on a regular basis to get vendors to comply to their crazy demands. Tim Cook was Apple's strongman who basically blackmailed Apple's entire Chinese supply chain to meet insane shipping and quality standards. Amazon has done it with their local delivery contracts with third party vendors. F…

There is a big difference between demanding your supply chain to meet your shipping and quality standards and demanding your supply chain to toe your political and ideological line.

Okay

Foreign organizations wishing to do business in US encounter restrictions and conformity that they too would find foreign. Dont criticize Jewish people or Israeli policy if you want to do business in the US. Easy! But a foreign concept to many. In the US its people and private sector will cause most of the headache, and you might find some discretionary import privileges stonewalled by ITC or other gov agencies.

Its really not that different just because China has top down control which it arbitrarily flexes on a topic that coincidentally is much more important to you. We believe that publicly made speech in an unofficial capacity should have no consequences from state level actors, surprise. We believe that the speech on this particular issue is the right thing to do, surprise there are consequences and China doesnt want you opining on “sovereignty issues”.

If you want to do business there you have to understand that.

Now you know why Jackie Chan says pro beijing things. If you’re perceptive and want favor from that very large market thats how you do it.

Exiting any market is always an option.

Post reply on HN