> I don’t claim to have entirely clean hands in this regard. When we sold our Twitter stock before the IPO many years ago, it turned out the buyer was fronting for gulf interests. I found that out after the fact but that doesn’t absolve me of anything. I could have asked the questions before executing the sale.
^^ That's why. He's "raising the bar" after making money through means that he would find despicable now. "Ends justify the means" is what got us into this mess, and unless he is willing to give away the gains from the arguably tainted money he's just posturing.
Yes, people change. My concern about people suddenly changing their stance on Saudi Arabia is why now and why only Saudi Arabia. Two major points:
Saudi Arabia is a brutal regime. That didn't start Khashoggi. If we had any doubt, the 50,000 civilian deaths in Yemen should have cemented the brutality of Saudi Arabia. I'm more concerned about people who suddenly decided to consider their moral position after a single US permanent resident (Khashoggi) died, and conveniently ignored the years of brutality leveled upon Saudi Arabia's neighboring civilians.
I'd also challenge whether tsese individuals are also distancing themselves from Lockheed Martin -- the weapons manufacturer selling weapons of Saudi Arabia. Recently a Lockheed Martin bomb was used to kill a bus-full of Yemeni school children...I suppose that is still OK?
Saudi Arabia killing its own citizens is bad. Saudi Arabia killing an American resident, and father of two American citizens, for writing opinions in an American newspaper is closer to an attack. The former is not clearly an American issue. The latter is.
That doesn't sound like change. But bringing that up makes the judgement less premature. My point wasn't that he was good. My point was that people can change,and that past misdeeds don't necessarily define a person's future actions.
Until he comes out and says "we made $X from doing business with questionable entities, and here's how we gave back $X without lining our pockets", it's posturing.
> It is time for all of us in the startup and VC sector to do a deep dive on our investor base and ask the question that the CEO asked me. Who are our investors and can we be proud of them? And do we want to work for them?
I would extend that question even further: Can we be proud of the gains we've made by working with the investors we've dealt with in the past? If not, how are we addressing the problem?
You can't be forward looking without addressing the past. This is why the moral pleas never really gain traction. If Fred was honest he'd address the elephant in the room by accounting for and giving back the gains. Until that happens, this is empty posturing.
Politicians will do this, this isn't some crazy ask. For example, Cuomo put his money where his mouth is and "returned" the $110K donated by Weinstein through the years:
> “My message to everyone who has current accounts with money from Harvey Weinstein is, ‘Give that money back,’” the mayor added. “Give it to charity. Get the hell away from it.”
The market value is skewed by the fact that the money is tainted. To put it differently: if real estate wasn't as effective a vehicle for money laundering, prices in places like Vancouver wouldn't have skyrocketed. So while technically people paid "market value", the number is meaningless
^^ That's why. He's "raising the bar" after making money through means that he would find despicable now. "Ends justify the means" is what got us into this mess, and unless he is willing to give away the gains from the arguably tainted money he's just posturing.