Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

A bit of Silly Valley lore: Go graph "Company builds a new campus" against "Company stock falls like a rock."

Atari, 1983.

Apple, 1991.

Sun (both times, I forget the years).

SGI, 1990s.

Various other companies (I forget which, it's been a while). It's like the hubris builds up to the point where the company is in a natural position to say, "Hey, we need a new campus," and the Gods decide that a little humiliation is in order as well . . .




The causation goes the other way around though. Companies with precipitous stock drops are virtually always ones that had rapid growth leading up to the fall. Companies experiencing rapid growth generally need more space, and are more likely to "build a new campus" as a way to get that space.


Steve Blank has wrote about "Curse of a new building" http://steveblank.com/2009/05/15/supermac-war-story-11-the-c...


Is Seattle different? Amazon 2011?

Does Microsoft's 20-year-long campus expansion count?


What about all the other companies that built new campuses and their stock didn't fall?



Correlation does not imply causation.


Also: Borland, mid-1990s.


VMware, 2007-2008ish




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: