The problem only occurs if the assumption of inventing zoom was priced into the cisco stock. If Cisco is priced at a multiple of earnings then shareholders get a totally fine deal and can invest their leftover money into startups.

It’s not just that. Cisco shareholders lost as they should have had the value of webex as part of their existing shares. This is being lost as zoom takes over.

I'd have made more money buying Zoom at IPO than I would if I held Cisco at the same time but added Zoom to Cisco's market cap. There was a big opportunity here for investors.

Sure Cisco shareholders would have been better off if Zoom was an in-house project, but investors are really the ones who are supposed to be making the value calls on teleconference-or-routers market exposure style decisions. If I'm a Cisco shareholder I don't think management made a mistake. I think I made a mistake not becoming a Zoom shareholder.