I certainly agree that stock speculators have no interest in the long term outcome of a company. Being private does help large established companies avoid the whipsaw of investors who can do real damage when stock prices vary.
An example of this is SAS Institute, the largest privately held software company in the world with two decades of double digit growth until 2010, including the two prior recessions, when the worst recession since the great depression held them back to only 8% growth. Their strategy in downturns is to pour on the research when competing companies are laying off and go cherry-pick talented people out of work. 3+ billion a year and over 20,000 employees worldwide is the result. SAS and it's owner have been on a cash basis for years, and having cash to spend in a downturn has proven very useful, allowing them to expand when acquisitions are cheap. They keep employees, with a ridiculously low turnover rate far below the industry norm, due to the owner's attitude that the employees are his main asset. They've taken the careful conservative path to a 3+ billion per year company. What SAS and Elecraft have in common is private ownership, running on a cash basis, staying within one's means, significant technological innovation, purposeful interaction through their technical support methods with a loyal customer base who know they have real input into what comes next, and real dedication to the purposes that uncovers. I'd say Elecraft is keeping damn good company. 73, Guy On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 9:06 AM, <n...@n5ge.com> wrote: > > > Not being public may be one of the reasons they are so successfull. Outside > stockholders can make life miserable for companies like Elecraft. > > Many privatly held businesses award uotstanding employees stock as rewards for > their service. > > Tom, N5GE > > On Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:08:45 -0500, "Bill (K9YEQ)" <k9...@live.com> wrote: > >>Alan, >>I am still waiting on them to go public so I can get a few shares. :-) >> >>73, >>Bill >>K9YEQ >> >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net >>[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Alan Bloom >>Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 7:14 PM >>To: j...@audiosystemsgroup.com >>Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net >>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Odd Question [Elecraft history] >> >>Elecraft reminds me of what Hewlett Packard company must have been like in >>the early days. Two engineering buddies start a company in their garage. >>One (Dave Packard in the case of HP, Eric in the case of >>Elecraft) gravitates toward the business end of the enterprise while the >>other (Bill Hewlett, Wayne) concentrates on the engineering. >> >>I wasn't around in the early days of HP, but maybe someday when Elecraft is >>a multi-billion-dollar corporation I'll be able to say that I knew Eric and >>Wayne way back when. :=) >> >>Alan N1AL >> >> >>On Wed, 2011-04-20 at 15:51 -0700, Jim Brown wrote: >>> On 4/20/2011 2:44 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote: >>> > Here's my account. >>> >>> VERY interesting, Wayne. That fills in an important gap for me -- I >>> had not realized that Eric had the serious EE background that he does. >>> But that also makes another point that I've long felt about being a >>> good chief executive -- to do it really well, you need not only a >>> solid biz background, but also a solid technical understanding of >>> every aspect of the business you're trying to run. Clearly, he has >>> all of that -- one of the things that has impressed me the most about >>> Elecraft is a near complete absence of dumb business or marketing >>decisions! >>> >>> 73, Jim K9YC >>> ______________________________________________________________ >>> Elecraft mailing list >>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >>> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >>> >>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email >>> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >>> >> >> >>______________________________________________________________ >>Elecraft mailing list >>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >>Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >> >>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >> >>______________________________________________________________ >>Elecraft mailing list >>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >>Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >> >>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
