.... and there's bugger all hope of ever getting a return on the investment.
Depends. Converting just 5% of 300 million USD of "Other Peoples Money into "My Money" would yield a pretty good R.O.I. For me at least.
I would bet that the venture vultures providing the funding charges about that in management fees. Going further into the Gray, one could also set up a side-channel providing in-sourced services like management consultancy. Maybe once could even buy Credit Default Swaps on the business's bonds (It requires that someone takes the other side of the bet - again with "Other People's MOney" - but - there is a 5-10% fee for someone to do exactly that also).
The world demands to be fooled, of course Capitalism and Markets will cater to that need.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
