You're not missing anything by not reading it. [0]

The above poster believes that the phrase

> maximize shareholder value

originated as a joke in the writing of Neal Stephenson and is not simply the financial terminology it appears to be.

[0] It was Cryptonomicon, not Snow Crash.

Woops, you're right of course, it's Cryptonomicon.

I'm well aware that it's standard financial terminology, but I was referring to how Stephenson satirized it and showed how it provided perverse and destructive incentives.

Disagree, Snow Crash is fun, and the intro about the Deliverator is great!

"Enough power to shoot a pound of bacon into the asteroid belt." How can you not like that!?

No, I mean he wasn't missing the joke... I obviously enjoy Stephenson way too well for my own good if I can spot an oblique reference to the wrong book.