>>76310002The vast majority of Cover is owned privately, and is not for sale. I believe it's something like 70~80% of the company is owned internally (either by Yagoo or other employees), but somebody more in the know might be able to correct me on that. External shareholders don't have enough pull to influence any actual decision-making, and Yagoo has no qualms with telling them (politely) to hit the bricks when they suggest something stupid and short-sighted.
Comparatively, Anycolor is completely on the market. Riku owns a 51% stake in the company, and the rest is owned by third party investors (again, somebody more knowledgable can feel free to correct me on the exact numbers). This means that investors have a lot more pull, and Riku is nowhere near as willing to openly tell them to screw off, mostly because his strategy is also their strategy.
Which leads me into the second point: Cover's strategy is long-term, while Anycolor's is short-term. Cover wants to be an institutional business that will withstand the test of time and become a household name globally, and they understand the steps to reach that goal. Anycolor's strategy is to make a bunch of money, as fast as possible, with as little investment as possible, then cash out when all the profits worth making have been made. Riku has done this with every other company he's ever been involved with, and it is a textbook investor strategy for short-term profiteering. From a purely business standpoint, neither strategy is better than the other, and they both have their merits. Where Anycolor has failed is in miscalculating the weight of the human element (both internally and externally), in an industry where the human element is very important to the success of the business. They tried to play in the big pond like big fish when really they were only moderately sized fish in a kiddie pool, and tried to play the global game like it was just a bigger version of the JP Corpo landscape (when they can't even play that game right). Meanwhile, Cover has done nothing but expand over the course of the past few years, always catching itself before it can truly stagnate, and has repeatedly tested the waters with new ideas and new tech. Cover is not appealing to short-term investors (which is one of the reasons its stock prices drop routinely), but it is very appealing to long-term investors that want to invest in a stable business with an interest in self-investment and good global prospects.
