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Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

businessinsider.com

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Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#241

Post by kodah »

selimthegrim wrote: post #239
kodah wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, whatever region you want to call Texas feel free to call it that. It's largely arbitrary. The problem is that Dallas (and other areas) have been sucked dry of talent by tech companies for a while - even before the conservative economic policies you're handwaving about came into effect. Some of that is on the state for not being competitive enough, other parts of that have been on predatory practices by business…

I used to work for a TI software subcontractor in Portland. After getting strung along by a trainee manager from HQ the whole project was offshored. I can only imagine how the employees in TX are treated.

TI has been dying a slow death from what I've observed and heard. Outsourcing tends to be part of that, sorry it happened to you.

When I worked in Texas there was a lot of outsourcing, but usually it's because there's not enough talent in the area to meet demand. It's a cyclical effect, which is what irritates me about coastal folks trying to deny their states and companies have participated in that process.

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#242

Post by conro1108 »

kodah wrote: post #240
conro1108 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A software engineer in Dallas Texas doesn't make near the cost of living difference between a San Francisco job while doing the same thing and that is a problem. Full stop. Why is that a problem? Do you feel that the same gap needs to be closed globally, or just within the US? > finger pointing at the Texas government without pointing at companies and other states I don't think anyone is finger pointing at the Texa…

> Why is that a problem? Do you feel that the same gap needs to be closed globally, or just within the US? I'm sure you'd find it problematic if you're forced from an area just because of geo-pay. I can't build that kind of empathy for you though, you'll need to go find it. Nice whatabboutism on the second part. Yes, I think it needs to be closed on both. These companies produce digital products, not geographically s…

I'd argue it's a bit dramatic to say I was "forced from an area" but I did move from the east coast to the Bay Area largely because pay disparity was much larger than the difference in cost of living. I saw that as an opportunity, not a punishment.

> A lot of it has to do with wage suppression

This is where I get a bit confused. Why would companies artificially push engineers to the areas where they command these disproportionately large salaries? Are you saying that they overpay engineers in general specifically to suppress wages of engineers that _are_ in Texas?

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#243

Post by _ktx2 »

conro1108 wrote: post #242
kodah wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why is that a problem? Do you feel that the same gap needs to be closed globally, or just within the US? I'm sure you'd find it problematic if you're forced from an area just because of geo-pay. I can't build that kind of empathy for you though, you'll need to go find it. Nice whatabboutism on the second part. Yes, I think it needs to be closed on both. These companies produce digital products, not geographically s…

I'd argue it's a bit dramatic to say I was "forced from an area" but I did move from the east coast to the Bay Area largely because pay disparity was much larger than the difference in cost of living. I saw that as an opportunity, not a punishment. > A lot of it has to do with wage suppression This is where I get a bit confused. Why would companies artificially push engineers to the areas where they command these dis…

You can call it dramatic, I call it reality when I make three times in CA what I did in Dallas doing the same job.

The problem is that an engineer, doing the same job, in a state that is wage suppressed can only retire in a state with even lower cost of living. When you have engineers in coastal areas on average making ridiculous sums over their counterparts in other states when nearly all the products are subject to the same taxes and distribution pipeline that begins to sound a bit problematic, don't ya think?

The problem largely lies in reward structure: coastal engineers tend to get a lot more in terms of RSUs but will get similar cash compensation. When you add inflation and home prices (which are savings vehicles) on top it compounds the problem into what we have today. As I said, some is on the state, some is on companies.

The net outcome is that an engineer retires from SF, can move anywhere they want but picks Texas. They buy a house in cash, most likely beating out native Texans and drive the cost of goods up while salaries remain low. They live like kings while the people who actually built up a community and contributed taxes to the state get priced out. This whole paragraph is just paraphrasing state-to-state income inequality though, feel free to read up on it's effects.

> Why would companies artificially push engineers to the areas where they command these disproportionately large salaries?

Because now that this paradigm exists it's rife for exploitation. Companies will pay engineers in Texas without giving them the same RSUs as their coastal counterparts. That's a savings. So sure, they pay people in SF more but they pay everyone else substantially less (beyond cost of living differences). Therein lies the rub.

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#244

Post by feteru »

fastball wrote: post #106
JohnWhigham wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. But today when most people say "monopoly", they don't mean the Standard Oil kind. They mean the Google kind that has ~90% of the search market. That much market share is still pretty anti-consumer. With Standard Oil, there were no competitors. Today, you can start a Google competitor, but they will bully you every inch of the way, and probably end up buying you anyway. It's not as clear-cut as a Standard Oil/A…

Having market share does not automatically make you anti-consumer. Google has 90% of the search market because they have the best product. This is the same reason Amazon is doing well – people just love what they're offering. It's not that you need oil and Amazon is the only player in town – it's that Amazon and Google offer the best gas station experience by a large margin.

Alternative narrative: Online services are a winner take all market, so early players who survived the dot com crash due to great product leveraged that to gain monopoly share. Without government intervention they will dominate these markets to the detriment of the consumer (and the abuse of their data/privacy)

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#245

Post by olyjohn »

dalbasal wrote: post #206
SyzygistSix wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon could pay and treat their employees better. That would be an investment that would make me consider using their service again.

Technically that'd be a cost, not an investment.

And we've found the problem...

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#246

Post by selimthegrim »

_ktx2 wrote: post #243
conro1108 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue it's a bit dramatic to say I was "forced from an area" but I did move from the east coast to the Bay Area largely because pay disparity was much larger than the difference in cost of living. I saw that as an opportunity, not a punishment. > A lot of it has to do with wage suppression This is where I get a bit confused. Why would companies artificially push engineers to the areas where they command these dis…

You can call it dramatic, I call it reality when I make three times in CA what I did in Dallas doing the same job. The problem is that an engineer, doing the same job, in a state that is wage suppressed can only retire in a state with even lower cost of living. When you have engineers in coastal areas on average making ridiculous sums over their counterparts in other states when nearly all the products are subject to…

Texas seems perfectly happy to keep giving the companies tax breaks independent of this - I don’t see what this has to do with CA

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#247

Post by fastball »

feteru wrote: post #244
fastball wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having market share does not automatically make you anti-consumer. Google has 90% of the search market because they have the best product. This is the same reason Amazon is doing well – people just love what they're offering. It's not that you need oil and Amazon is the only player in town – it's that Amazon and Google offer the best gas station experience by a large margin.

Alternative narrative: Online services are a winner take all market, so early players who survived the dot com crash due to great product leveraged that to gain monopoly share. Without government intervention they will dominate these markets to the detriment of the consumer (and the abuse of their data/privacy)

Ok, but that's just not true, at least in my case. I've tried to stop using Google multiple times. I still use Google not because of monopoly, but because every time I use DuckDuckGo or Bing or what have you, I wish I was using Google.

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#248

Post by modo_mario »

huitzitziltzin wrote: post #27
snarf21 wrote: post #6

Is the SEC and FTC ever going to do their job? They have failed us in the 21st century. Shareholder value over everything else. It would be nice for some regulation to attack all this rent seeking.

what job do you want the FTC to do here? I assume you think there is an antitrust angle on this potential acquisition? I am an economist and that is my field. I disagree with your take, if that is what you mean. This is a vertical merger. Vertical mergers are quite different in their welfare effects to consumers than horizontal mergers. Vertical mergers can frequently be welfare-improving to consumers. Indeed, this i…

When every distribution platform does a ton of it's own content creation won't we end with monopsony like effects? Aka everything not produced by the few distributors will see more of it's profits taken in by these distributors who can afford to go without.

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#249

Post by sam_4675 »

kodah wrote: post #241
selimthegrim wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work for a TI software subcontractor in Portland. After getting strung along by a trainee manager from HQ the whole project was offshored. I can only imagine how the employees in TX are treated.

TI has been dying a slow death from what I've observed and heard. Outsourcing tends to be part of that, sorry it happened to you. When I worked in Texas there was a lot of outsourcing, but usually it's because there's not enough talent in the area to meet demand. It's a cyclical effect, which is what irritates me about coastal folks trying to deny their states and companies have participated in that process.

Companies and people are leaving California in droves and coming to Texas. Cost of living in Texas is a fraction of California and Texas has no individual income tax. Texas colleges A&M and UT are excellent affordable public engineering schools. Availability and quality of medical centers are excellent. Elementary and high schools outside of the urban cities are generally excellant. Many many great entertainment and restaurant venues. State government has avoided the destructive Covid lockdown policies in California while putting in place balanced and reasonable protections.

Lusting after California salaries is a losing game when the salaries are inflated to pay for high taxes and artificially high home prices driven by a chokehold of regulations on new home building.

https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/list-of-companies...

Re: Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about $9B

#250

Post by CyberDildonics »

treis wrote: post #237
dageshi wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? So long as there are multiple competitors after the same customers I don't really see how this happens. Hell, we only really have 3 major cloud computing platforms (along with some minor ones), but consistently the prices of everything they offer goes down.

Because Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video et Al don't make money. At some point they're going to have to and that's when we see if you're right or not.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/20/netflix-n...

Netflix has over 208 Million subscribers each paying a monthly fee. They are taking in multiple BILLIONS every month in revenue.

They are also in complete control of their expenditures. They don't rely on commodities or regulations. If that isn't making money then I don't know what is.

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