I speak in all humility and with the
audacity of hope that this too shall pass and will pass soon enough because of
the resilience and intelligence of the human race.
But……
This honest request is to the promoters of
those listed companies who are collecting all brownie points and gloating by
appearing with pictures/selfies of multi million dollar cheques on TV Channels
contributing to the COVID relief funds – in a hope that MOCA (Ministry of Corp
Affairs) and PM himself will pardon all their creative accounting jugglery and sins
pertaining to corporate governance – spanning years.
The biggest joke was when Yes
Bank recently contributed to COVID relief partially at the expense of
taxpayers and partially the minority shareholders (lets call them muppets for the purpose of brevity)of SBI. And an amazing thing about
all this is that no one calls out this hypocrisy - loud enough.
Some of the top/most respected business houses in
India are trying to be the paragons
of virtue during these trying times, committing thousands of crores and last drop of wealth etc – while conveniently forgetting that
the share prices of their companies are at decadal lows, their business decisions have indebted companies to the extent of tens and tens of billions of dollars, are on verge of
defaults on many fronts and have millions of muppets wiped out, and in private domain they are not blinking an eyelid while cutting salaries of staff members across board, of the very people who have stood by them for years/decades.
Yet……………….
Yet……………….
It’s the saddest moment in the life of a
promoter of a listed company when he fails to protect the capital of a muppet. - as ‘SIMPLE’ as that..
Give with heartful and handful to the cause
– Nation needs it most currently than ever before – Nothing wrong in it.
But give whatever - from Your personal net-worth
that’s accumulated over years and drawn salaries and perks over long periods of
time / ownership – mostly at the cost of the muppet.
Try not to screw Your own company twice-over.
Because................
Try not to screw Your own company twice-over.
Because................
- Most of the listed companies have destroyed wealth over long periods of time
- Capital markets are financed by muppets/retail shareholders with a belief that between the capital gains and dividend yields, an investor will earn a significantly larger returns compared to the treasury yields of the country of investment
- Promoters have no right to treat the company as their piggy bank for personal PR when the muppets are bleeding
- If a company has even a single penny of debt on its books and the promoters are still desirous of philanthropy, don’t do this at the cost of a muppet as he gets ripped both ways.
- Have the courage to sell Your wife’s jewellery, or one house in south of France, or a Lamborghini, or a farmhouse in Alibaug / Mahabaleshwar for these noble causes - not the diminishing cash on the Balance Sheet
- It’s the muppet that services the debt and leakage owing to promoter’s empire building initiatives and efficiency of wealth destruction – as life and lifestyle of the promoter continues to go on as usual irrespective of the global difficulties.
- In most cases promoters with just a small shareholding control corporations and keep bleeding these thru exorbitant salaries and perks and leakages of gargantuan proportions.
- Each time promoters use the company coffers for any expense other than enhancement of ROE or ROCE, they are taking away from the muppets to the extent of their share-holdings.
Remember if you give 100 Cr to philanthropy
while owning just 50% of the company all of your 'mis'-decisions are
being financed by 'ME' and I am paying the balance 50 Cr – ‘THE MINORITY
SHAREHOLDER’.
In most of the cases the over-leveraged
companies just vanish over time while leaving a trail of
destruction for Shareholders and Financial Institutions.
A law must be put in place where salaries
and perks of the promoters of listed companies are a function of ROCE, ROE,
Leverage, Dividend Yield and these are the only metrics that will align the
interest of the alleged manager with that of the shareholder.
AND
On the other hand its just so profound and Godly
what people like Akshay
Kumar and many such individuals like him are doing and continue to do for humanitarian
causes. These individuals are citizens that make our nation proud and we will
forever be in their debt of gratitude. What Akshay does
for armed forces, their
families and being almost always there to help selflessly is the stuff of
the movies – literally. And his latest act of this large
contribution to COVID relief is truly remarkable. What he said
to his wife moved me “I had nothing when I started and now that I am in
this position, how can I hold back from doing whatever I can for those who have
nothing”
Look at the life of actors. They are the 100%
owners of their enterprise of talent, have limited shelf life, could be out of
favor/flavor with just one movie flopping at the Box, are entirely responsible for
their personal balance sheets and profitability, carry a 100% Key Person Risk, Yet
are among the highest tax payers in the country – as they can’t hide behind the circuitous
veils of tax evading corporations and behave like the promoters of these. And
inspite of so many risks they truly demonstrate in action and spirit what being
a Good Human Being is all about.
Hats off Brother Akshay – More power, steely resolve and long life to You.
Hats off Brother Akshay – More power, steely resolve and long life to You.
And in the meanwhile, can the muppets get their voice and their act together and create a movement
against us all being ripped off.
