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Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

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Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#41

I don't understand anything about the stock market, but giving someone a large portion of stock with the agreement that it can never be sold seems like the wrong thing to do when people need to spend more to bring us out of a recession.

MIT will receive dividends from the stock. It will never cost them anything to hold it even if it falls in value. Also, if it does fall horribly (unlikely) and is sold off, MIT would receive part of the sale proceeds (I believe). Either way, it's a win win for MIT.

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#42
post #3

This is an incorrect title; the wrong conclusion may have been drawn. Although he has given them majority shares they are nonvoting only. The terms of.the gift forbid them from selling the shares or participating in any management or governance of the company. Bose is remaining a private / independent company still run by said founder. This is essentially a gift that should pay nice stock dividends for MIT.

Can't the remaining shareholders vote to suspend dividend payments indefinitely?

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#43
post #29

I was fortunate to be a student of Dr. Bose many years ago. No other professor gave unlimited time on exams, plus free Toscanini's ice cream to boot! Beyond those small perks, his stories working with Norbert Wiener and his inspirations have completely transformed and shaped my personality and how I solve problems. Above all, the highest integrity one would have with his/her work, has been my #1 beacon thanks to Dr.…

I am interested. What did him and Wiener work on?

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#44

Folks like to rag on Bose products (and from a pure sound quality standpoint they are overpriced IMO) but Amar Bose was the best professor I had and his enthusiasm for engineering and acoustics showed in all of his lectures. He's been good to MIT over the years (MIT students, faculty and affiliates get substantial discount) and this is another example of him giving back. I hope this encourages MIT to resurrect some o…

My sister was his student, he gave her a free pair of the original quiet comforts. Those were so sweet.

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#45
post #29

I was fortunate to be a student of Dr. Bose many years ago. No other professor gave unlimited time on exams, plus free Toscanini's ice cream to boot! Beyond those small perks, his stories working with Norbert Wiener and his inspirations have completely transformed and shaped my personality and how I solve problems. Above all, the highest integrity one would have with his/her work, has been my #1 beacon thanks to Dr.…

I am interested. What did him and Wiener work on?

Bose spent over a decade working with Wiener. It started when Lee recruited Bose (as a grad student) to work under Wiener.

Bose often told the story of the initial encounter, in which he spent 6 months fearing for his life because his level of math versus that of Wiener was equivalent to a child who knows basic arithmetic versus someone well versed with Calculus.

They worked together on a wide variety of projects, including bio-engineering projects where they measured brain signals of hospital patients who lost, say, their arms but was asked to pretend to move their fingers as if their arms were still attached.

According to Bose, Wiener was a total genius who had an amazing memory. He fully memorized AND understood the human anatomy down to every detail, and often corrected experienced Harvard doctors from mistakes, large or small.

Wiener told Bose that he resented his upbringing because his parents wanted to see if they could raise a genius. By age 7, Wiener's eyesight was nearly shot from so much reading, but his parents pushed on and made Wiener do everything in his head instead.

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#46

I don't understand anything about the stock market, but giving someone a large portion of stock with the agreement that it can never be sold seems like the wrong thing to do when people need to spend more to bring us out of a recession.

> people need to spend more to bring us out of a recession.

every time i hear that i'm surprised what a fairy tale! Of course politicians forced to say comfortable "we need more spending" than the suicidal "we need more working", yet it is obvious for any sane normal person what only increased productivity and efficiency can get us out of this small hole-in-the-road current recession and the really big crises looming tomorrow - healthcare, energy, education - and the day after tomorrow - social security. Look at who's leading the recovery - the companies reporting large profits without much increased sales, if any. I.e. increased productivity and efficiency, less waste. The waste in the business is still extremely large, yet much smaller than compare to heydays of 2005-7. Instead of being wasted, at least some part of these profits would get invested and thus would spread around in the economy and help overall recovery.

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#47
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am interested. What did him and Wiener work on?

Bose spent over a decade working with Wiener. It started when Lee recruited Bose (as a grad student) to work under Wiener. Bose often told the story of the initial encounter, in which he spent 6 months fearing for his life because his level of math versus that of Wiener was equivalent to a child who knows basic arithmetic versus someone well versed with Calculus. They worked together on a wide variety of projects, in…

Fascinating.

I have Weiners book "Cybernetics: Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine" (unfortunately not in the hardback version) and although I don't understand the math in the book I still read it to the best of my ability.

Another book that I did understand and which made me understand Weiners book a little better conceptually was Valentino Braitenbergs "Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology" a fantastick book for math morons like myself.

Thank you so much for your little story.

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#48
post #30
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Also, it's pretty ironic that I know that MIT is a good tech school but have no idea what a good marketing school is.)

Maybe this implies that MIT is a good marketing school.

Epic success becomes the best marketing tool.

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#49

Folks like to rag on Bose products (and from a pure sound quality standpoint they are overpriced IMO) but Amar Bose was the best professor I had and his enthusiasm for engineering and acoustics showed in all of his lectures. He's been good to MIT over the years (MIT students, faculty and affiliates get substantial discount) and this is another example of him giving back. I hope this encourages MIT to resurrect some o…

It's an interesting blind spot; when I first got interested in computer music and acoustics, I somehow just assumed that MIT would have something roughly analogous to Stanford's CCRMA or Berkeley's CNMAT (or France's IRCAM), but that wasn't the case. But I suppose no one university can do everything.

Re: Bose founder makes big stock donation to MIT

#50
post #19

Folks like to rag on Bose products (and from a pure sound quality standpoint they are overpriced IMO) but Amar Bose was the best professor I had and his enthusiasm for engineering and acoustics showed in all of his lectures. He's been good to MIT over the years (MIT students, faculty and affiliates get substantial discount) and this is another example of him giving back. I hope this encourages MIT to resurrect some o…

Amar Bose was a good professor, and in making this donation to his alma mater, he continues to carry on the tradition of MIT graduates doing good things long after they've made a name for themselves. His work today in no way lessens the impact of an audiophile's criticism of his company's products. Not only are they overpriced in consideration of value delivered, they are in many respects poor implements for faithful…

Which companies are better than Bose?
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