Perpetual companies

How much money do we, as individuals, need? It seems that somewhere between 1 and 10 million dollars gives you complete freedom. Ya know you can work, live, and spend time however you want, more or less. This is a very general statement, but for brevity let's assume this is true enough.

These people are content. They don't want anymore money. They live off of the 10% interest with a S&P 500 ETF. Now they work on whatever is fun and interesting regardless of how much it will pay, if at all.

For most people, I think this is very fulfilling. Perhaps, one of the most fulfilling lifestyles out there.

Why not make a company like this?

Let's say you built a company. It gets big and has 2 billion in cash reserves. Lots of companies have many more billions than that.

But then as CEO you say alright we are content. We are slashing all but 1000 employees. All costs will be paid for by the 10% interest - 2 hundred million. Employees get a 150k salary, so that leaves 50 million for research and development costs each year. We no longer care about profit. We will only build what is fun and interesting.

Thus, we have a perpetual company.

Maybe this becomes the most creative and awesome company ever. Maybe culture rot would turn it into a zombie of crappy/nonexistent products. But if companies are in the infinite game, this would be an optimal strategy on paper right? Maybe giving the company an artificial death date would protect the company's health?

2023-04-23