We announced today that we’re in the process of cutting a number of active positions, mostly non-development, throughout the company. I'm sure this announcement has sparked some questions from all of you, so I want take this opportunity to address those as best I can. Over the past several years, the company has grown rapidly and evolved to better serve you and the rest of our global community. Thanks to all of your support, we continue to serve by far the biggest subscription-based MMO community, as well as the most passionate eSports and online gaming communities, in the world.
In order to keep making epic game content while serving players effectively, we have to be smart about how we manage our resources. This means we sometimes have to make difficult decisions about how to best maintain the health of the company. We’re in the process of making some of those hard decisions now.
After evaluating our current organizational needs, we determined that while some areas of our business had been operating at the right levels and could benefit from further growth, other areas had become overstaffed. As a result, we need to scale down some of our departments and part with some of our colleagues and friends here at Blizzard. I know that you all understand how difficult this type of situation can be for anyone who might be affected, so I want to assure you that we'll be offering each impacted employee a severance package and other benefits.
I also want to emphasize that we remain committed to shipping multiple games this year, and that our development teams in particular remain largely unaffected by today's announcement. We're continuing to develop, iterate, and polish Blizzard DOTA, Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, as well as other, unannounced projects. We'll have exciting news to share in the coming weeks regarding Diablo III's release date, and will soon be holding a private media event to showcase the latest work on Mists of Pandaria. It goes without saying that we're working hard to get all of these games in your hands as soon as possible.
You've all come to expect Blizzard to live up to our mission statement with every game, and deliver the most epic entertainment experiences ever. You can continue to expect that and nothing less from us as we move forward.
-Mike Morhaime
What I want to know is if this will impact his $16.5M compensation package?
Or his donations to the RNC? I wonder if he is in favor of weakening or outright removing the very unemployment benefits that he will soon make 600 or so people temporarily dependent on?
I'd also like to know what kind of severance package they're giving these people. Blizzard is are the most profitable (even with massive World of Warcraft subscription losses) game company in history (correct me if I'm wrong) and I expect these people to be well taken care of. I don't just purchase products based on their quality, but also on the quality of life of the manufacturer's employees.
Wow that sure is a lot of excess people laying about. Did everyone one have a personal secretary over there or what?
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Some people seem happy that folks are losing jobs, in my opinion that's just shitty regardless of how you feel Blizzard has wronged your precious MMO universe. I don't like to see people out of work.
Well the screwed up, they didnt see the decline in WoWs interest coming? really its a video game and its ages old. That and how little effort i feel they put into getting Diablo 3 out, like...how many years has it been since i saw the first gameplay video? Ah well, i hope TITAN is the major title on their development list or is that cancelled or not due out until 2020 now?
Back in 2005, WoW was a brilliant, brilliant game.
But this is 2012, and "kill 10 x" in a field doesn't cut it anymore. It was ok in the Plaguelands, when it was a little scary - that was the last time it really worked well.
I wonder how many in that 600 are actually healthy people? All those years sitting over at Blizz eating processed foods, drinking pop drinks, was it worth it 600?
Corporations are not charities nor should they be.
Nor should they be all about greed.
Yes they really should. At least where it affects profits. They can do good things too but they exist to make money.
Look up the word greed. Greed is not a healthy approach to making profit, it is an excessive need for it. So that it can negatively affect the environment, the society, the economy etc.
A good company has both social and environmental responsibilities to the societies for which they operate. They are not greed above all entities. If they became that then you have the current crisis with credit default swaps where greed has become so great that it cares nothing about global economic stability.
Corporations should not act like phsycopaths, they need to care about the societies from which they operate.
Look up the word greed. Greed is not a healthy approach to making profit, it is an excessive need for it. So that it can negatively affect the environment, the society, the economy etc.
A good company has both social and environmental responsibilities to the societies for which they operate. They are not greed above all entities. If they became that then you have the current crisis with credit default swaps where greed has become so great that it cares nothing about global economic stability.
Corporations should not act like phsycopaths, they need to care about the societies from which they operate.
Company, yes. But corporations like EA and Activision are a step up from a regular company. And they are greedy.
I guess Activision put some preassure on Blizzard, I knew merging was a dumb idea.
There are few independant MMO companies that make AAA MMOs. Either are they like Bioware and Blizzard controlled by larger corps or they are like Undead labs funded by a corp (in their case Microsoft).
A small gaming company might make games for the fun of it even if they still need income enough to go round. A corp works in a very different way. And we all remember that activision quote about "taking the fun out of making games".
So the bad news is this will prolly cause delays in the amount of time it takes Blizzard to get new games, expansions, etc out the door.
The good news, is you shouldnt even notice as it already takes them forever to finish any project as it is.
Blizzard has always been notorious for taking their time to get a title as close to "right" as "right" can be, with the exception of a couple of WoW expansions, and even those were for the most part pretty polished, if not what everyone wanted.
This is why the Q&A for Diablo III's release date said, (paraphrasing) "It'll be finished when it's finished, and not a day sooner." The same thing happened when Diablo II was in development, and it's probably why there's a crapload of speculation about TITAN project, but no one knows a damned thing.
As sick of WoW as I have become, I respect Blizzard's stance to take their time on a project, however misguided as it might be, rather than pull a SOE and crank a new EQ expansion out every 6 months, bug-filled or otherwise.
Develop-Online.net is reporting that World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo developer, Blizzard Entertainment, is making 600 jobs 'redundant'. According to the report, 10% of the jobs will come out of the game development crew with the rest coming out of business oriented departments like customer support.
The announcement of job cuts comes as World of Warcraft is slowly but surely losing its grip as the top game in the MMO space.
“Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business, said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.
Read the full article at the link above.
i call shenanigans. blizzard has never even HAD customer support.
Develop-Online.net is reporting that World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo developer, Blizzard Entertainment, is making 600 jobs 'redundant'. According to the report, 10% of the jobs will come out of the game development crew with the rest coming out of business oriented departments like customer support.
The announcement of job cuts comes as World of Warcraft is slowly but surely losing its grip as the top game in the MMO space.
“Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business, said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.
Read the full article at the link above.
i call shenanigans. blizzard has never even HAD customer support.
well they had people to talk with the callcenter in india, guess they will not need then anymore
Develop-Online.net is reporting that World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo developer, Blizzard Entertainment, is making 600 jobs 'redundant'. According to the report, 10% of the jobs will come out of the game development crew with the rest coming out of business oriented departments like customer support.
The announcement of job cuts comes as World of Warcraft is slowly but surely losing its grip as the top game in the MMO space.
“Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business, said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.
Read the full article at the link above.
i call shenanigans. blizzard has never even HAD customer support.
I must be lucky then. I recently have to call them to remove my Authenticator because I got a new iphone. It didn't take me long to have them remove my old one so I can add my new one in. Overall, I was happy it went smoothly.
lets just say they have 10mil subs. at 15$ a pop per month thats a 150mil made per month. and they need to lay off 600 employees. theres more going on here than what people are thinking at that kinda cost no co. on earth needs to layoff anyone.
Maybe the fact that they don't have 10 million people paying $15 a month?
It always comes back to how many actually pay a sub in NA and EU doesnt it? Ok lets do that then. Even if its 3 million Blizz is not going broke anytime soon. And thats still over 2 million players more than any other P2P MMO that I know of.
Where do you think much of the money to develop Diablo 3 is coming from?
Of course they are reinvesting, its what companies do, the smart ones anyway. $15 multiplied by 3 million. Multiply that by how many years? D3 is going to be one hell of a game if you think they have invested all they have into it.
Really? This game sucks and Im not having fun? Im going to unsub right now. Thanks for the tip.
Approximately 540 jobs coming out of business oriented departments like customer support sounds like outsourcing to me...
This has become a disturbing trend and I am glad I no longer have a subscription because I would cancel it immediately. With the unemployment rate being what it is, making it worse so that you can pay less for for the same thing is repulsive. It's one of the reason the US has the problems we do now.
lets just say they have 10mil subs. at 15$ a pop per month thats a 150mil made per month. and they need to lay off 600 employees. theres more going on here than what people are thinking at that kinda cost no co. on earth needs to layoff anyone.
Maybe the fact that they don't have 10 million people paying $15 a month?
It always comes back to how many actually pay a sub in NA and EU doesnt it? Ok lets do that then. Even if its 3 million Blizz is not going broke anytime soon. And thats still over 2 million players more than any other P2P MMO that I know of.
Where do you think much of the money to develop Diablo 3 is coming from?
Of course they are reinvesting, its what companies do, the smart ones anyway. $15 multiplied by 3 million. Multiply that by how many years? D3 is going to be one hell of a game if you think they have invested all they have into it.
Don't forget "Titan" also, which is probably where the biggest chunk of dev money would be needed.
Originally posted by Akais
Approximately 540 jobs coming out of business oriented departments like customer support sounds like outsourcing to me...
This has become a disturbing trend and I am glad I no longer have a subscription because I would cancel it immediately. With the unemployment rate being what it is, making it worse so that you can pay less for for the same thing is repulsive. It's one of the reason the US has the problems we do now.
The outsourced ( to India of course ) customer support was one of the (many ) reasons SWTOR barely lasted me a month before I gave up on it.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
So 600 people. I can see why they wouldnt need a lot of the development team from D3 or SC2 any more...just less people needed to wor on those expansions. But only 10% is from development they say, so 540 people from areas like 'customer service'. What? Im guessing with hacking down to the authenticators becoming far more common, they dontneed those people anymore. but why cut the jobs? Surely they can be moved to in game customer service (whch still sucks) or maybe replace them with people that can run in game events like EQ used to have. WoW clearly needs MORE people working on it, not less, and that can go beyond developers.
That dragon mount probably paid those 600 people's salaries for a year. Its not like Blizzard is hurting for money.
Of course they aren't hurting for money. Companies of this calibre rarely do cut-backs for something as benign as lack of payroll. They make moves like this due to greed. They can't have their bonuses cut, now can they. Even if the game is on a slighly downward turn, investors expect their profits to go up, even at the expense of employees who do the real work. They've had what, a 12 year or so run of exceptional income? Where did all that money go that they suddenly have to lay off people at the slightest sign of a downward trend? They are either completely clueless about money management or just another shining example of the cesspool that is capitalist greed.
lets just say they have 10mil subs. at 15$ a pop per month thats a 150mil made per month. and they need to lay off 600 employees. theres more going on here than what people are thinking at that kinda cost no co. on earth needs to layoff anyone.
Maybe the fact that they don't have 10 million people paying $15 a month?
It always comes back to how many actually pay a sub in NA and EU doesnt it? Ok lets do that then. Even if its 3 million Blizz is not going broke anytime soon. And thats still over 2 million players more than any other P2P MMO that I know of.
Where do you think much of the money to develop Diablo 3 is coming from?
Of course they are reinvesting, its what companies do, the smart ones anyway. $15 multiplied by 3 million. Multiply that by how many years? D3 is going to be one hell of a game if you think they have invested all they have into it.
Don't forget "Titan" also, which is probably where the biggest chunk of dev money would be needed.
Im not questioning that Blizz is spending a lot of money on upcoming games. But then again, Blizz has a lot of money to spend. On the other hand, a layoff doesnt have to be an indicator of financial problems. All it indicates is that Blizz, for whatever reason, no longer needs these 600 employees. Keeping people not needed to run a business is a sure way of going under. Those wanting to see Blizz go bankrupt see what they want to see. Others see it for what it is. Business as usual.
Really? This game sucks and Im not having fun? Im going to unsub right now. Thanks for the tip.
So 600 people. I can see why they wouldnt need a lot of the development team from D3 or SC2 any more...just less people needed to wor on those expansions. But only 10% is from development they say, so 540 people from areas like 'customer service'. What? Im guessing with hacking down to the authenticators becoming far more common, they dontneed those people anymore. but why cut the jobs? Surely they can be moved to in game customer service (whch still sucks) or maybe replace them with people that can run in game events like EQ used to have. WoW clearly needs MORE people working on it, not less, and that can go beyond developers.
That dragon mount probably paid those 600 people's salaries for a year. Its not like Blizzard is hurting for money.
Of course they aren't hurting for money. Companies of this calibre rarely do cut-backs for something as benign as lack of payroll. They make moves like this due to greed. They can't have their bonuses cut, now can they. Even if the game is on a slighly downward turn, investors expect their profits to go up, even at the expense of employees who do the real work. They've had what, a 12 year or so run of exceptional income? Where did all that money go that they suddenly have to lay off people at the slightest sign of a downward trend? They are either completely clueless about money management or just another shining example of the cesspool that is capitalist greed.
I take captialism over communism any day. Companies exist to make money. There are jobs out there. People just don't want to do jobs they don't like. Some people think they are too good for some jobs. Well, Blizzard thinks they aren't good enough to keep in the organization. Busniess.
Is it possible that Blizzard decided that they do not need as many marketing people?
Is it possible they are getting rid of the lower level BlizzCon workers?
Is it possible that, through technology advances, some jobs aren't needed?
Just playing devil's advocate here seeing all i have read is the company is Gordon Geeko and is slowly being sold off so the higher ups can get another Ferrari.
As for the Amazon thingy that was discussed. It's hard to compare a company that developes products with an intermediary. Amazon can offer free shipping because the bulk shipping rate they get from shipping companies (hell, it's free advertising for UPS, FedEx, etc), offer better prices because of distributor discounts, etc etc. The Kindle pricing is just a way to get into the market and sell more services for it (don't have one so only guessing that it has "falling out of bed" business), we saw this strategy when the Microsoft XBox was introduced.
Anywho, my opinions, right or wrong, are just there for something to chew on. We need more open minded thinkers to make things happen and ask questions, not just have vitriol posts.
PS....Lose=fail to win, gain, or obtain. undergo defeat. Loose=not rigidly fastened or securely attached
Please figure out which one you mean when posting.
Originally posted by zymurgeistYes they really should. At least where it affects profits. They can do good things too but they exist to make money.
I agree, but some of you are exchanging "Good Business Sense" with "Greed" like they are interchangable. They aren't.
Pure greed is is a bad thing, and is why the US has gone down the poohole.
My opinion of course.
They are not interchangable but who can draw the line ? None of us know how the organization works. None of us know their structures.
Keeping people without productivity in the organization is not good business sense. If they do, why should others work harder when those have nothing to do ? It is better for an organization to be healthy then dragging people they don't need and eventually cause issues.
Keeping one person is not just salary alone, it comes with all the benefits and extras.
US gone down the poohole for more than just greed issue.
Originally posted by eyeswideopenNo, what's funny is you having a stock portfolio when you don't know how business works. Amazon can handle losses on the Kindle hardware because the BOOKS ( as well was advertising space on the cheaper version ) for the Kindle offset the difference. The same way Sony could absorb the losses on PS3 hardware as game revenue is where the money is really at. Plus they have literally hundreds of THOUSANDS of products that they make pure profit from with NO production costs at all and minimal overhead as most all those products are either stored by the sellers or stored collectively in a big warehouse.
I really think you need to take a deep breath, read this, let it sink in, read it again and understand MY POINT. It is simply this, Amazon has proven you can be successful and not come across as overly greedy. Read, then re-read and read again the chain of posts, and you will understand that nowhere, no how and in no way was I attempting to explore or understand the HOW Amazon does it, merely that they CAN do it, and still be successful and not come across as greedy. Do you think you get it now ? But thanks for explaining the "how" it all works when that wasn't the issue.
Again my point in referencing Amzons successful and less greedy business model is that I was attempting to prove you can be SUCCESSFUL and not nickel and dime your cleint base. Amzon can charge for shipping and Amazon can charge for at least cost the Kindle, but they choose not to, thereby coming across as less greedy. can you understand this rather simplistic point ?
thanks.
And I think YOU should read your own posts.
Originally posted by TyvolusNext
then please explain to me (someone who owns/buys stock) how a company like Amazon will slash prices, offer free shipping and provide great customer service and actually sell items like the Kindle at below cost...all the while remaining a strong, viable player in retail AND remain profitable AND have a stock price of almost $180 -- explain to me how this company who doesnt nickle and dime its customers in a greedy manner is so wonderfully successful ?
thanks.
You asked, I answered. Not my problem if you can't handle an answer to YOUR OWN QUESTION so you try to act like you never asked it in the first place.
wow, ok. Actually that was what is called a rhetorical question. I already know the answer, and it is because AMAZON IS NOT GREEDY. You are trying to answer my rehtoric with a reasoned understanding of business logistics when the HOW is not the issue....its that they are doing things that cut their profit margins and make them less greedy and are still successful. do you really need it all explained out like this ?
Comments
What I want to know is if this will impact his $16.5M compensation package?
http://people.forbes.com/profile/michael-morhaime/119128
Or his donations to the RNC? I wonder if he is in favor of weakening or outright removing the very unemployment benefits that he will soon make 600 or so people temporarily dependent on?
http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&oldest=1&lname=Morhaime&fname=First+Name&search=Search+Names
These are questions that I would like answered.
I'd also like to know what kind of severance package they're giving these people. Blizzard is are the most profitable (even with massive World of Warcraft subscription losses) game company in history (correct me if I'm wrong) and I expect these people to be well taken care of. I don't just purchase products based on their quality, but also on the quality of life of the manufacturer's employees.
Wow that sure is a lot of excess people laying about. Did everyone one have a personal secretary over there or what?
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Some people seem happy that folks are losing jobs, in my opinion that's just shitty regardless of how you feel Blizzard has wronged your precious MMO universe. I don't like to see people out of work.
Well the screwed up, they didnt see the decline in WoWs interest coming? really its a video game and its ages old. That and how little effort i feel they put into getting Diablo 3 out, like...how many years has it been since i saw the first gameplay video? Ah well, i hope TITAN is the major title on their development list or is that cancelled or not due out until 2020 now?
Back in 2005, WoW was a brilliant, brilliant game.
But this is 2012, and "kill 10 x" in a field doesn't cut it anymore. It was ok in the Plaguelands, when it was a little scary - that was the last time it really worked well.
Look up the word greed. Greed is not a healthy approach to making profit, it is an excessive need for it. So that it can negatively affect the environment, the society, the economy etc.
A good company has both social and environmental responsibilities to the societies for which they operate. They are not greed above all entities. If they became that then you have the current crisis with credit default swaps where greed has become so great that it cares nothing about global economic stability.
Corporations should not act like phsycopaths, they need to care about the societies from which they operate.
My gaming blog
Rift > WoW thats all
Clicky for Rift trial
Company, yes. But corporations like EA and Activision are a step up from a regular company. And they are greedy.
I guess Activision put some preassure on Blizzard, I knew merging was a dumb idea.
There are few independant MMO companies that make AAA MMOs. Either are they like Bioware and Blizzard controlled by larger corps or they are like Undead labs funded by a corp (in their case Microsoft).
A small gaming company might make games for the fun of it even if they still need income enough to go round. A corp works in a very different way. And we all remember that activision quote about "taking the fun out of making games".
If your defending Blizz/Activision keep in mind they posted a over 1 billion net profit last year.
It's pretty obvious they fired a bunch of hardworking plebs so the usurping execs could line their wallets a little more.
Blizzard has always been notorious for taking their time to get a title as close to "right" as "right" can be, with the exception of a couple of WoW expansions, and even those were for the most part pretty polished, if not what everyone wanted.
This is why the Q&A for Diablo III's release date said, (paraphrasing) "It'll be finished when it's finished, and not a day sooner." The same thing happened when Diablo II was in development, and it's probably why there's a crapload of speculation about TITAN project, but no one knows a damned thing.
As sick of WoW as I have become, I respect Blizzard's stance to take their time on a project, however misguided as it might be, rather than pull a SOE and crank a new EQ expansion out every 6 months, bug-filled or otherwise.
they could have saved those job is they would just fired greg street.
i call shenanigans. blizzard has never even HAD customer support.
well they had people to talk with the callcenter in india, guess they will not need then anymore
I must be lucky then. I recently have to call them to remove my Authenticator because I got a new iphone. It didn't take me long to have them remove my old one so I can add my new one in. Overall, I was happy it went smoothly.
I am probably on their good customer list LOL
Of course they are reinvesting, its what companies do, the smart ones anyway. $15 multiplied by 3 million. Multiply that by how many years? D3 is going to be one hell of a game if you think they have invested all they have into it.
Really? This game sucks and Im not having fun? Im going to unsub right now. Thanks for the tip.
Approximately 540 jobs coming out of business oriented departments like customer support sounds like outsourcing to me...
This has become a disturbing trend and I am glad I no longer have a subscription because I would cancel it immediately. With the unemployment rate being what it is, making it worse so that you can pay less for for the same thing is repulsive. It's one of the reason the US has the problems we do now.
Don't forget "Titan" also, which is probably where the biggest chunk of dev money would be needed.
The outsourced ( to India of course ) customer support was one of the (many ) reasons SWTOR barely lasted me a month before I gave up on it.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Of course they aren't hurting for money. Companies of this calibre rarely do cut-backs for something as benign as lack of payroll. They make moves like this due to greed. They can't have their bonuses cut, now can they. Even if the game is on a slighly downward turn, investors expect their profits to go up, even at the expense of employees who do the real work. They've had what, a 12 year or so run of exceptional income? Where did all that money go that they suddenly have to lay off people at the slightest sign of a downward trend? They are either completely clueless about money management or just another shining example of the cesspool that is capitalist greed.
Im not questioning that Blizz is spending a lot of money on upcoming games. But then again, Blizz has a lot of money to spend. On the other hand, a layoff doesnt have to be an indicator of financial problems. All it indicates is that Blizz, for whatever reason, no longer needs these 600 employees. Keeping people not needed to run a business is a sure way of going under. Those wanting to see Blizz go bankrupt see what they want to see. Others see it for what it is. Business as usual.
Really? This game sucks and Im not having fun? Im going to unsub right now. Thanks for the tip.
I take captialism over communism any day. Companies exist to make money. There are jobs out there. People just don't want to do jobs they don't like. Some people think they are too good for some jobs. Well, Blizzard thinks they aren't good enough to keep in the organization. Busniess.
Is it possible that Blizzard decided that they do not need as many marketing people?
Is it possible they are getting rid of the lower level BlizzCon workers?
Is it possible that, through technology advances, some jobs aren't needed?
Just playing devil's advocate here seeing all i have read is the company is Gordon Geeko and is slowly being sold off so the higher ups can get another Ferrari.
As for the Amazon thingy that was discussed. It's hard to compare a company that developes products with an intermediary. Amazon can offer free shipping because the bulk shipping rate they get from shipping companies (hell, it's free advertising for UPS, FedEx, etc), offer better prices because of distributor discounts, etc etc. The Kindle pricing is just a way to get into the market and sell more services for it (don't have one so only guessing that it has "falling out of bed" business), we saw this strategy when the Microsoft XBox was introduced.
Anywho, my opinions, right or wrong, are just there for something to chew on. We need more open minded thinkers to make things happen and ask questions, not just have vitriol posts.
PS....Lose=fail to win, gain, or obtain. undergo defeat. Loose=not rigidly fastened or securely attached
Please figure out which one you mean when posting.
I agree, but some of you are exchanging "Good Business Sense" with "Greed" like they are interchangable. They aren't.
Pure greed is is a bad thing, and is why the US has gone down the poohole.
My opinion of course.
They are not interchangable but who can draw the line ? None of us know how the organization works. None of us know their structures.
Keeping people without productivity in the organization is not good business sense. If they do, why should others work harder when those have nothing to do ? It is better for an organization to be healthy then dragging people they don't need and eventually cause issues.
Keeping one person is not just salary alone, it comes with all the benefits and extras.
US gone down the poohole for more than just greed issue.
wow, ok. Actually that was what is called a rhetorical question. I already know the answer, and it is because AMAZON IS NOT GREEDY. You are trying to answer my rehtoric with a reasoned understanding of business logistics when the HOW is not the issue....its that they are doing things that cut their profit margins and make them less greedy and are still successful. do you really need it all explained out like this ?