News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacenter networking evolution. Parent comment

Re:Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacent... by HDThoreaun on Sunday November 03, 2024 @05:07AM (#42032189)
I have to wonder if Nvidia has reached a point where it hesitates to develop new products because it would hurt their margins. Sure they could probably release a profitable networking product but if they did their net margins would decrease even as profit increased. This may actually hurt their market cap as investors absolutely love high margins.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacent... by eru on Sunday November 03, 2024 @05:38AM (#42032303)
They can always release capital back to investors, and then those investors can put the money into different companies that eg produce networking equipment.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacent... by thrw42A8N on Sunday November 03, 2024 @06:20AM (#42032417)
Why would they release money if they can invest it and return much more?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacent... by eru on Monday November 04, 2024 @12:47AM (#42038876)
I was working under HDThoreaun's assumption that the margins would be lower.

If they have other opportunities for investment with higher margins, they should seize those, of course. And perhaps even call up investors for more capital, if required.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacent... by lovich on Monday November 04, 2024 @01:20AM (#42039002)
When the agents employed by investors would be harmed by releasing capital back, which is guaranteed since so many people’s compensation is in the form of stock and returning capital leads to decreasing stock value, why would those agents ever return the capital voluntarily?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacent... by eru on Monday November 04, 2024 @03:27AM (#42039629)
Have you heard of stock buybacks?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Speed, scale and reliability: 25 years of Google datacent... by HDThoreaun on Monday November 04, 2024 @02:26PM (#42045163)
Buybacks increase stock price. Nvidia has a tiny dividend but most shareholder returns are in the form of buybacks.
[ Parent | on HN ]