• girltwink@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    When do we just start calling out that it’s about their commercial real estate holdings? I’m an engineer at a large fortune 500, and while my part of the company has made it very clear to leadership that we are going to remain remote, they made this whole huge deal about RTO for the rest of the company. They said it was about culture, but it’s very obviously about real estate. The CEO is very ego driven and likes his big buildings. I was really hoping someone would have the balls to call him on that in one of the many comical public meetings they had about RTO.

    • Confused_Emus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I was really hoping someone would have the balls to call him on that in one of the many comical public meetings they had about RTO.

      Be the change you want to see in the world.

      • girltwink@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Like i said, I’m not going back to the office, and my part of the company is openly defiant about it. Most of us are independently wealthy and they know we can just walk.

    • Strangle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s not just about liking the big buildings. It’s also very much tired to company evaluation numbers and stock price.

      Real estate is a huge part of company asserts and they reflect in the stock price.

      Why do you think these huge mega companies publicly traded have these trillion dollar campuses and stuff? Private companies would find that a little bit crazy, when they are more focused on having actual cash in the bank.

      The real estate isn’t an ego thing, it’s protecting and growing the price of company stock

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        A lot of companies with large campuses have gotten concessions from local government, since the workers will increase economic activity in the area. So part of it is also that city governments are putting pressure on companies to get people in, and they might lose millions in tax breaks they got for building in their city.

      • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Don’t forget they also invest in companies that buy/own buildings too…it’ll hurt their bottom dollar across the board

        • Strangle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’m not convinced the bottom dollar is as relevant as the stock price.

          These companies make baffling dollar decisions, like having these trillion dollar campuses, that would make no sense at all to the bottom dollar.

          It would seem wasteful. But for the stock? Well that seems like a different story. What does having trillions in real estate holdings under a company name do to the stock?

          • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            well it helps the book value as an asset but it hurts the available cash and the liquidity of assets and the return on assets although the depreciation is a big write off. its not a great use for most companies to sit on brick and mortar that aren’t generating revenue. but whats the point of having a high floor corner office if nobody is around to pretend to care?

      • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        But, couldn’t the company sell their real estate and pay that out to shareholders while retaining the same profit potential?

        • Strangle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          They can also sell product to customers, but often over stock items for the same reasons.

          Showing trillions of dollars in assets, with inflated inventory dollar values makes the company look more valuable, which impacts the stock price.

          I’m sure there are a dozen ways to skin that cat, but this is how C-Suite execs seem to prefer to make their stock go up

    • lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      My previous employer put on a handout that was supposed to make people feel good about RTO that Denver was chosen as a hub because of a $7 million tax break. So it’s about real estate but there could also be other bullshit reasons for it as well, none of which actually have to do with collaboration or culture.