How Obvious are the MegaCorps really? Options

[AllTheNothing]

They wouldn't even need to own the other news companies, simply be considered sufficiently reliable that other news distributers take their word for it.

I used to read papers for a living, and the lack of actual investigation for many stories was astonishing. Most stories were just repeats of a bulletin released by AP or Reuters.

You can't take anything you see or hear at face value. Everyone has an agenda.

Isn't this what's more or less happened the first time Bush run for president (against Gore)?

[BookWyrm]

How obvious are the Megacorps? As obvious as they want to be.

[AllTheNothing]

How obvious are the Megacorps? As obvious as they want to be.

What does a 10'000 years old dragon do?
How obvious are the corps?
Whatever it wants however it wants.

(It means I agreed)

Yet since the advent of the Matrix 2.0 the information flux is less controllable by the big boys so there might be a little more trasparence than before, not much but a little more anyway.

[Earlydawn]

Everybody is correct insofar as the public's lack of detailed understanding; everybody knows that Horizon is a multimedia conglomerate, but they probably don't have the slightest clue how many outlets they own. There's also a difference on the back-end. Average joes have a level of corporate knowledge that scales between minimal and none. Most corporate drones probably have a picture of their company's structure, with a resolution that gets sharper the higher in the management ladder you get. Corporate leaders (above high-management) would obviously have a crystal-clear understanding of their house's structure and holdings, minus anything considered sensitive or restricted. Professional runners probably can't see the whole picture without significant research and insiders, but know that blowing up an Ares launch facility will hurt the bottom line of the space division next fiscal year.

[Cardul]

Everybody is correct insofar as the public's lack of detailed understanding; everybody knows that Horizon is a multimedia conglomerate, but they probably don't have the slightest clue how many outlets they own.

Joe Sarariman, even if he works at Horizon, probably does not even know about the Dawkins Group. Though, of course, I am sure everyone who works at a location with the big Aztechnology Logo knows: Mess up, and being fired is the least of your worries..though they probably do not(necessarily) know that it involves having your still beating heart ripped from your chest!(Then again...maybe they DO know...)

[Dr Funfrock]

Well, nobody knows about the Dawkin's Group because they're a top secret social engineering project / industrial espionage wing. You don't really advertise that sort of thing.

[BookWyrm]

What does a 10'000 years old dragon do?
How obvious are the corps?
Whatever it wants however it wants.

(It means I agreed)

Yet since the advent of the Matrix 2.0 the information flux is less controllable by the big boys so there might be a little more trasparence than before, not much but a little more anyway.

True, ATN; but it still boils down to spin control.

What does a 10,000 year-old Dragon do? Whatever & whenever it wants, as long as he/she can get away with it.
(News-title: "Apparent Dragon Attack Explained As Unfortunate 'Mating Ritual' Badly Timed.")
How obvious are the Megacorps? As obvious as they want to be, without getting into too much trouble.
(News-title: "Megacorps' Recall Of Faulty Dietary Supplement Blamed On Mislableing Of Materials.")

[AllTheNothing]

True, ATN; but it still boils down to spin control.

What does a 10,000 year-old Dragon do? Whatever & whenever it wants, as long as he/she can get away with it.
(News-title: "Apparent Dragon Attack Explained As Unfortunate 'Mating Ritual' Badly Timed.")
How obvious are the Megacorps? As obvious as they want to be, without getting into too much trouble.
(News-title: "Megacorps' Recall Of Faulty Dietary Supplement Blamed On Mislableing Of Materials.")

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[nezumi]

Corporate leaders (above high-management) would obviously have a crystal-clear understanding of their house's structure and holdings, minus anything considered sensitive or restricted.

I would have to disagree with this. Going from a classic Cyberpunk reading, the corporations have evolved to the point where they almost have a life of their own. Damien Knight doesn't know that the CEO for Creyon Petrochemicals has recently bought a significant part of Mission Ops. drone production, or that in turn, that La Cosa Nostra has bought a controlling portion of Creyon through their own shell corporations. In fact, the second crash seems to indicate in part that trading happens so quickly, it outpaces people. Computers will buy and sell investments automatically and regularly, following the market. It would be a full time job just keeping up with the current holdings of a single arm of Ares, muchless the whole beast.

The CEO would, in theory, know (or have access to) all of the permanent or semi-permanent holdings, and have a general understanding of the temporary or anticipated holdings. But he'll never understand the whole picture.

[Wesley Street]

one start to wonder that, if people are not aware of it, news corporation can fabricate something by having its diverse holding reinforce each others reports...

While it makes for a nice conspiracy theory, it doesn't hold a whole lot of water in real life. It's actually quite a task to get various corporate holdings in line even if they're under the same corporate umbrella, like News Corp. If you want a hilarious example, Fox News wanted to sue Fox Entertainment for a rather unflattering parody of their typical anti-Democratic rhetoric in an episode of The Simpsons. From that example it leads me to believe that trying to keep all of your corporate assets in line is like herding cats.

[hobgoblin]

heh, thanks for reminding me. iirc, sony ones sued sony, this however was indirectly as a member of two organizations, one suing the other...

[imperialus]

Interestingly though, Nestle is one of the closest examples of a megacorporation in the modern day, and it's right there in the public eye. It's one of the biggest corporations in the world. But most people when they hear "Nestle" think of chocolate and nothing else. Check out their product list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands

Kraft is the other big one in this industry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_Foods#Brands

[Aluman]

To me 'megacorp today' can be summed up with one company Berkshirehathway Some people recognize the name, for those of you who don't, this is the company that Warren Buffet runs. It is one of the richest and most divested conglemrate companies in the world. It owns: Dairy Queen, GEICO, Enron (Which is now a holding company holding several key electrical generation companies in the US, accounting for ~30% of the US electrical output). it is one of the largest share holders of Coca-cola and Disney, it grosses over one hundred billion dollars manually, and companies live or die based on what it does (Wrigley was recently acquired in a join move by BH and Mars, Inc)

Edit> Yet in general they do not advertise themselves, when they own a company (Acme Brick for instance) They let it run itself.

Edit2> And then there are single market companies who are ridiciliously large, but are never directly heard about, like De Beers. De Beers is responsible for over 80% of diamonds in the world (Down some from two years ago due to Russian and Canadian interests), yet they didn't focus on their name and instead made diamonds an Engagement/Love related item. They rarely sell directly to the public instead selling to brokers who sell to importers who sell to jewelers. But if you have bought anything diamond in the past decade odds are, the De Beer company made money on it.

Oh and on the issue of food companies: ConAgra and General Mills take my nod for largest/most secrtive style. Especially GM. I mean everyone knows the cereals, but the list of products General Mills makes is nigh on endless.

[Kanada Ten]

It's not about how many brand names they control; it's not x offices in x cities in x countries that makes a megacorp. A megacorp is more than a "really big" corporation; it is a nation, a country unto itself. It doesn't just have its own army: it has its own currency. A megacorp is a place, a world, a way of life: where you can be born a Renraku citizen in a Renraku hospital delivered by Renraku doctors to Renraku parents and grow up going to Renraku preschool, primary school, graduate school, all the while pledging your alligence to the Renraku flag. With the right grades - or connections - you choose one of the many Renraku colleges or technical schools to finish your education before working in a Renraku office, spending your nights watching Renraku simfeeds or dancing at Renraku nightclubs, vacationing at Renraku resorts during your allotted time. Everything you buy, eat and breathe is stamped with the Renraku fractal, and its sight fills you with pride. Finally, you retire to a Renraku eldercare facility before being buried in a Renraku cemetery or burned in a Renraku furnace, all the time praying for an afterlife in Renraku heaven, where Uncle Aneki hands out Renraku toys to his good little children.

[hobgoblin]

*

[hobgoblin]

*

[hobgoblin]

external capitalism, internal communism (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Mr. Grey]

And just think there are people out there that actually own major stock in not just one but several of the megas. I.E. Dunkelzahn.

[Mr. Grey]

Wheels within wheels.

[hobgoblin]

enough wheels to give a super-jumbo a run for the money...

[nezumi]

And just think there are people out there that actually own major stock in not just one but several of the megas. I.E. Dunkelzahn.

Major as in like 1% (i.e., millions of dollars)? Or major as in controlling interest? Because I suspect anyone owning a controlling interest in a megacorp is very, very rare. I'm betting even Lofwyr has sold off his controlling interest (and why not? He's CEO, not to mention, CED (Chief Executive Dragon), and he can just eat whoever disagrees with him. Better to invest that money elsewhere now.)

[Kanada Ten]

Major as in like 1% (i.e., millions of dollars)? Or major as in controlling interest? Because I suspect anyone owning a controlling interest in a megacorp is very, very rare. I'm betting even Lofwyr has sold off his controlling interest (and why not? He's CEO, not to mention, CED (Chief Executive Dragon), and he can just eat whoever disagrees with him. Better to invest that money elsewhere now.)

Controlling interest is the rule, rather than the exception among Triple-As, IIRC. Some are even wholely privately owned, such as Shiawase.

[Malachi]

Saeder-Krupp is also Private.

[InfinityzeN]

Lofwyr owns 100% of SK and I don't think that will change as long as he is still alive and kicking.

[AllTheNothing]

Controlling interest is the rule, rather than the exception among Triple-As, IIRC. Some are even wholely privately owned, such as Shiawase.

The stock dreck that went down in System Failure seems to hint that Shiawase shares are aviable on the stock market.