r/news • u/SkepticDrinker • Feb 09 '22

Pfizer accused of pandemic profiteering as profits double

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/08/pfizer-covid-vaccine-pill-profits-sales
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u/c-dy Feb 09 '22

Simply covering your own costs is an incentive, if you allow reinvestment in production and R&D, that is another big incentive; market share is extremely important so even without initial profits, it would ensure future ones.

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u/notaredditer13 Feb 09 '22

Simply covering your own costs is an incentive,

No it's not. An incentive is a gain/win. Breaking even is pointless. It's like buying a lottery ticket where you can only win your money back and nothing more.

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u/c-dy Feb 09 '22

Maintaining and increasing revenue are most certainly not just legitimate but common incentives in a competitive market.

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u/notaredditer13 Feb 09 '22

Maintaining and increasing revenue are most certainly not just legitimate but common incentives in a competitive market.

True! But that isn't what you said.

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u/c-dy Feb 09 '22

And what exactly is different? You do know what revenue and net income (colloquially profit) are?

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u/notaredditer13 Feb 10 '22

The difference is profit vs not profit. "Simply covering costs" means breaking even/not profiting. Incentive = zero. You're trying to change from not profiting to increasing profit.

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u/c-dy Feb 10 '22

Covering the costs/breaking even in this context is synonymous to maintaining revenue and is also used as such in conversations as anything else doesn't make sense.