Isn’t that a prerequisite for enshitification? Publicly-traded companies are required (by law, I think) to maximize profits for their shareholders, even if that means utterly ruining their original product (Reddit, Boeing, etc.), yes? What do you think?
I’ve always figured a company will go public before enshitification truly gets underway. It’s kinda the first step of the process.
I guess my argument is that until that pressure to appease the stockholders exists, there’s not a whole lot of motive to justify enshitification. It’s hard for me to imagine the process happening any other way.
So, I suppose you can count my vote as being that going public will likely come first. Just my two cents, though, and I don’t know anything anyway! :-p