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Originally Posted by clanny
As for the perception (reading between the lines in some of the posts here) that bp puts profit today/this month/this year ahead of any long term company gain is complete nonsense. They're drilling these wells to operate them for 20+ years. One disaster like this will wipe all the profits from this well for it's lifetime. Why take the slightest chance on that for the sake of a few $$ spent today? It's madness and bg oil doesn't make decisions like that.
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Many, if not most, publicly traded companies in America operate quarter-to-quarter. So many investors are moving their money around willy-nilly, and looking for a rise in share price instead of a big dividend. Boards of Directors are giving the shareholders what they want, and a sudden fall in the share price can be the end of a CEO's tenure.
I hope that heavy industry is somewhat above this trend due to the huge long-term investments required. If investors would park their money in one spot for a decade and pressure management to make lots of money and pay big dividends, we'd have much healthier corporations as a result. Probably fewer random mergers and acquisitions as well.