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Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

cnbc.com

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Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#231

Post by giwook »

Ekaros wrote: post #132
bhouston wrote: post #124

Dropbox's stock has been stuck at around $6B valuation for years with flat growth and income around $2.5B per year. It is just stuck. Box.com, which is quite similar, is not that different. Around $3B and $1.2B in income. Similar valuation. I think it is the market, not the leadership. It is a tough market that has cut off the consumer end because all the big players have their own deeply integrated solutions: Apple…

How about a strange outdated idea. Stay where you are and start paying dividends? Well, somehow that is now unacceptable idea.

Unfortunately this is the case when a company is beholden to investors. Investors aren't getting into the business of "making a steady stream of money without outsized growth" unless you are Warren Buffett.

Most investors are focused on multiplying their investment many times over, and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in net income a year is not big enough.

And this is one reason why the world is burning (literally and figuratively).

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#232

Post by jagraff »

guhcampos wrote: post #226
bhouston wrote: post #124

Dropbox's stock has been stuck at around $6B valuation for years with flat growth and income around $2.5B per year. It is just stuck. Box.com, which is quite similar, is not that different. Around $3B and $1.2B in income. Similar valuation. I think it is the market, not the leadership. It is a tough market that has cut off the consumer end because all the big players have their own deeply integrated solutions: Apple…

Is that bad though? Think about it. If you're paying all your bills, all your wages, and you have a strong product that people enjoy, and you're able to compete in the market - maybe not gaining any ground, but at least not losing any either - why change? Of course I moderately understand the market pressures at work, but at some point in the human civilization journey we'll have to be content with something instead…

> at some point in the human civilization journey we'll have to be content with something instead of chasing clouds all the time.

Surely we're not even close to this point though? I can think of a lot of things that would be incredibly good for humanity to have, and which are achievable with enough economic growth, but which we are currently very far from because our economy does not have the necessary productive capacity (for example, enough solar/wind/nuclear/renewable power to completely eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels)

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#233

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

nikkwong wrote: post #214
yesitcan wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this guy really replying with AI?

Not every use of the em dash is Ai. I’ve long used it and always am accused of using Ai in responses — though I never do.

It wasn't even an actual em dash —

It was two hyphens --

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#234

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #212
yesitcan wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this guy really replying with AI?

Seems minorly AI ("Fair criticism.", emdash), but as someone who works adjacent to this space, the rest reads like something I'd write.

It wasn't an em dash though —

It was two hypens --

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#235

Post by throwaway894345 »

guhcampos wrote: post #226
bhouston wrote: post #124

Dropbox's stock has been stuck at around $6B valuation for years with flat growth and income around $2.5B per year. It is just stuck. Box.com, which is quite similar, is not that different. Around $3B and $1.2B in income. Similar valuation. I think it is the market, not the leadership. It is a tough market that has cut off the consumer end because all the big players have their own deeply integrated solutions: Apple…

Is that bad though? Think about it. If you're paying all your bills, all your wages, and you have a strong product that people enjoy, and you're able to compete in the market - maybe not gaining any ground, but at least not losing any either - why change? Of course I moderately understand the market pressures at work, but at some point in the human civilization journey we'll have to be content with something instead…

Exponential growth can’t last forever, and I do worry about what will happen when the gravy train stops. Maybe we can figure out interstellar travel before it does so the limiting factor becomes “the galaxy” rather than “our planet”.

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#236

Post by racl101 »

I always thought it was a shame that Dropbox never had a tier between its free tier which is not usable and its first paid tier. I would've gladly paid around $3, $5 for a few tens of Gigs of storage, but the almost $10 per month is too much. Then Apple iCloud came and filled that gap beautifully. So I give them my money.

I feel like they left a lot of money on the table.

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#237

Post by robotresearcher »

AznHisoka wrote: post #223
runako wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DropBox has been retiring shares fairly consistently. This is generally used as an alternative to dividends, and is done primarily for tax efficiency.

Where do those shares then go? Are they just gone forever? Or do they then turnaround and give them to employees? If its gone forever, then… why? They just bought something and burnt it? Isnt that like a waste of resources? The stock market, still to this day is a very very strange thing…

The company is owned by the shareholders. When shares are ‘burnt’ the remainder of the shares become more valuable.

It’s easy to see if you imagine there are only three shares and one of them is torn up. The other two now own the entire company.

It’s a way of giving money to shareholders without the value being realized in the sense of being immediately taxable.

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#239

Post by wombatpm »

jjallen wrote: post #192
runako wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DropBox has been retiring shares fairly consistently. This is generally used as an alternative to dividends, and is done primarily for tax efficiency.

It's done to increase EPS per share and return cash to ongoing shareholders in a more tax friendly way, yes.

People say this, but the cash is returned only if you sell. A dividend is cash in pocket plus the stock.

Re: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to step down

#240

Post by ktallett »

light_triad wrote: post #206
nashadelic wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dropbox is a $6B product, just no second act

It's a great product. They had the brand, the capital, and the user base to become what Slack, Zoom, or Notion became. Instead, they spent a decade fighting a losing battle over storage pricing with Google and Microsoft. Their lack of a second act is due to a failure of product vision and enterprise execution.

I don't see the need to become bloated like slack and a one size fits all application. They do a great job with the product they have. Is there anything wrong with just being what you are? Why does the lack of a second act need to be a bad thing if your first product is great and still extremely valuable?

I would also if anything put Zoom in with Dropbox, they have a product that is by far the most enjoyable to use in that space, but any other offshoot is not worth it.

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