President François Hollande of France has recently been on a campaign to change the widely held perception that his administration is hostile to business. He has sounded more welcoming to foreign investment and has promised to lower capital gains taxes. But barely days into his charm offensive, one of Mr. Hollande's ministers was triumphantly claiming credit for preventing Yahoo from buying a controlling stake in a successful French online video streaming company, DailyMotion.
Connect With Us on Twitter
For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.
The announcement by the minister for industrial renewal, Arnaud Montebourg, that DailyMotion was "a golden nugget that needs to be preserved" sends a terrible message to French entrepreneurs and foreign investors. It suggests that any French enterprise that achieves success can never be acquired by a foreign business.
Nations are understandably hostile to foreign acquisitions of businesses important to national security or critical infrastructure. But it is hard to think of what vital French interest would be compromised if Yahoo were to take a controlling stake in a video streaming service that allows users to watch clips from "The Office."
Mr. Montebourg seems to hold the mistaken notion that by keeping the ownership of DailyMotion in French hands he will encourage the development of a cluster of French Internet companies. Far from it. The experience of Silicon Valley suggests that companies and entrepreneurs succeed when they are free to work, merge and partner with the best and brightest from around the world.
Consider the example of Skype, the popular Internet phone service which is based in Luxembourg. It was started by Janus Friis, a Dane, and Niklas Zennstrom, a Swede. They sold their business to eBay, an American company, and went on to start and invest in numerous other companies.
The French economy is in a deep slump, with an unemployment rate of 11 percent in March, up from 10 percent a year earlier. It certainly doesn't need protectionist measures grounded in meaningless nationalism.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Editorial: President François Hollande Shoots His Own Foot
Dengan url
http://opinimasyarakota.blogspot.com/2013/05/editorial-president-franaois-hollande.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Editorial: President François Hollande Shoots His Own Foot
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Editorial: President François Hollande Shoots His Own Foot
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar