Isn’t that a prerequisite for enshitification? Publicly-traded companies are required (by law, I think) to maximize profits for their shareholders, even if that means utterly ruining their original product (Reddit, Boeing, etc.), yes? What do you think?
I don’t believe that it’s the root cause.
Enshitification is about monetization, getting more money from the same customer base.
If the product you are providing isn’t paying for itself with a sustainable margin then the prerequisites are in place for the wheels of enshitification to start moving.
Putting the foot on the accelerator is achieved by going public, selling the company, or pivoting to some random marketing weenie wet dream.
Most of this is fuelled by “free” products that become “fremium” when companies realise that monetizing you isn’t nearly as sustainable as the marketing department would have you believe. “You just need to grow!” - nevermind that the costs of running the infrastructure grow faster than the income generated by new customers. This is exacerbated by the silo mentality exhibited in many companies, the marketing department has no insight into the costs of the infrastructure team.
I think that we’re going to see much more of this before it gets any better. What better looks like is yet to be determined, since much of this is driven by the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM.
I mention IBM in that list because it’s been buying up “free” software companies and changing their business models.
We live in interesting times…
I’m a little bit confused by your post. Publicly-traded companies, by and large, place extraordinary emphasis on short term, quarter by quarter profit. Seems like a very strong contender for the root cause if the issue?
Doesn’t this statement support publicly traded status being a riot cause, though?
I must assume I’m misunderstanding your argument…?
The vast majority of companies don’t start by being publicly traded. They begin life as a good idea, an itch to scratch, or how to make money fast.
The public trading happens when the founders run out of money or get stars in their eyes about “the fortune” they’re sitting on.
That’s where the wheels come off, but the process is well and truly in motion by that stage.
I’ve always figured a company will go public before enshitification truly gets underway. It’s kinda the first step of the process.
I guess my argument is that until that pressure to appease the stockholders exists, there’s not a whole lot of motive to justify enshitification. It’s hard for me to imagine the process happening any other way.
So, I suppose you can count my vote as being that going public will likely come first. Just my two cents, though, and I don’t know anything anyway! :-p