I don't know if you're aware of this, but American markets are hyper competitive. I'd be extremely wary of any instinct to discount the skill level of any top-20 self-made billionaire industrialist, really anywhere in the world, but in the US at least, that skillset is likely heavily skewed toward business excellence.

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SimianSci 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> self-made billionaire industrialist

We've reached levels of billionaire worship that would make any court jester of the 1400's blush

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fragmede 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

An off-the-cuff four word description on an Internet forum definitely exceeds the level of worship from a court jester in the 1400s that had to dress up in costume and dance at the command of a king, lest their head get cut off.

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vessenes 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Well jesters are supposed to call out the BS, yes?

That said, How do you (accurately) describe Ellison?

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danparsonson 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Greedy, ruthless and well-connected? These people are hardly genuises.

	▲	quesera 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Greedy, ruthless and well-connected? Sure, but that's not enough. > These people are hardly genuises. You're quite wrong about this. I know it's tempting to look at a damaged person and assume that they possess no actual extraordinary capabilities, but these people are very very smart. Surely they'd be top-tier HN. :) (Defining "genius" is a whole nother thing, but using any common vernacular meaning, my statement will apply.) Not all billionaires, of course. In context, we're talking about Ellison and Musk. There may be others implied. These people are in fact extremely intelligent. What's missing is not horsepower.

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ginsider_oaks 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

lawnmower

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XorNot 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Why does he need a description? If Larry Ellison thinks something is true he can argue the case for it using the same universal logical principles which we all have access to.

Who he is is irrelevant.

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afavour 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> American markets are hyper competitive

Eh. Brand new markets, perhaps. But established markets in the US favor incumbents and encourage monopoly.

	▲	vessenes 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Monopoly - so easy everyone can do it. We should give it a go! I would include managing your way into monopoly status and steering clear of being broken up as business skills; no?