News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The World's Dumbest Idea: Maximizing Shareholder Value (2014) [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:The World's Dumbest Idea: Maximizing Shareholder Value (2... by ikeboy on Saturday December 07, 2019 @06:04PM (#21733212)
>Here’s an example. You can play one of two games an infinite number of times in an instantaneous amount of time: one game you flip a coin and win a dollar on heads, tails you pay 99 cents. The other game you flip a coin and either win 1,000,000 dollars or pay 990,000 dollars.

Both have the same risk percentage wise.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The World's Dumbest Idea: Maximizing Shareholder Value (2... by smabie on Saturday December 07, 2019 @06:11PM (#21733252)
The risk of extinction is greater for the second game. Which game would you play?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The World's Dumbest Idea: Maximizing Shareholder Value (2... by chowells on Saturday December 07, 2019 @06:35PM (#21733380)
Both have a 100% risk of extinction when played infinite times instantly. Doesn't matter which you choose.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The World's Dumbest Idea: Maximizing Shareholder Value (2... by ikeboy on Saturday December 07, 2019 @08:19PM (#21733799)
There's a 0% chance if you have infinite leverage.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The World's Dumbest Idea: Maximizing Shareholder Value (2... by jbeam on Saturday December 07, 2019 @06:59PM (#21733495)
Betting infinite dollars does tend to lead to extinction.
[ Parent | on HN ]