from Hacker News

Jupiter CEO Quits $68B Firm to Sit at the Beach and ‘Do Nothing’

by cocochanel on 6/28/22, 12:18 PM with 176 comments

by cbozeman on 6/28/22, 12:30 PM
I mean... good?
Isn't this the end goal for the vast majority of us? What's the point of having a bajillion dollars if you can't go do the things you want to do in life? Why are we all spending 80 hours a week grinding away at a startup or busting our asses in the corporate world if not to elevate ourselves beyond the need for money?
by onion2k on 6/28/22, 12:30 PM
People will read this as him jumping before he's pushed, but even if that is the case we should still celebrate this action. Everyone is entitled to say "Yeah, I'm retiring now. I don't want to work any more.", and go and sit on a beach and do nothing.
Most of us will never have the resources to actually do it so when someone does I'm truly happy for them. This guy really is living the dream.
by beardyw on 6/28/22, 12:47 PM
Most of my 43 years in work was making computer systems. I was good at it because I enjoyed it. Now retired and full of years I can't stop. I just do stuff because it's the thing I think about. Mostly it never comes to anything but who cares. Lying on a beach would not suit me at all.
by rjh29 on 6/28/22, 12:29 PM
Ironic that people who make the money to quit and live a life of quiet pleasure and relaxation, are incapable of doing it! That CEO brain won't just turn off.
by jgrahamc on 6/28/22, 12:50 PM
Formica, who has been in the UK for almost three decades, said in a telephone interview that his departure was down to personal reasons, including wanting to be closer to elderly parents. He plans to move back to his native Australia.
“I just want to go sit at the beach and do nothing,” he said in the interview. “I’m not thinking about anything else.”
by pcurve on 6/28/22, 1:15 PM
Real reason is more likely this:
"Clients have pulled cash from Jupiter for four years in a row and the firm has failed to stem the outflows this year. In the first three months of the year, investors yanked another £1.6 billion, according to its latest earnings report."
by perfunctory on 6/28/22, 1:56 PM
“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
-- Blaise Pascal
I sincerely wish we collectively would spend more time doing nothing.
by bee_rider on 6/28/22, 12:44 PM
Good for him. I think this is what most normal people would do if they had a many millions of dollars -- at least for a while. If he gets bored he can go play with an open source project or start a soup kitchen.
by system16 on 6/28/22, 1:29 PM
> Formica, who has been in the UK for almost three decades, said in a telephone interview that his departure was down to personal reasons, including wanting to be closer to elderly parents. He plans to move back to his native Australia.
> “I just want to go sit at the beach and do nothing,” he said in the interview. “I’m not thinking about anything else.”
Slightly misleading / clickbaity title. It sounds like it was his response to "what's next" and he wants to enjoy some downtime. Not that he never plans to do anything else but sit on the beach and do nothing.
by levesque on 6/28/22, 12:55 PM
Quality of the comments is reflecting how little this story brings here. Can we just delete this post?
by ejb999 on 6/28/22, 12:47 PM
never could figure out why people keep working well after the point when they have enough money to do whatever they want.
by sha256sum on 6/28/22, 12:35 PM
Who is this person? What is Jupiter? Why should I care that they are going to the beach?
by dontbenebby on 6/28/22, 1:02 PM
We used to have a running (offline) joke in the G+ days among my photog friends that Tom Anderson "doesn't care about anything but women and architecture, and it's reflected in his art", but more founders should be willing to quit while they're ahead.
(It was a joke from a place of love, since unlike Mark Zuckerberg, who we'd joke is literally a spy for the Chinese, Tom seems just want folks to use his website and have a fun time, versus feeling entitled interaction or observation.)
Also, I seriously doubt this Jupiter CEO is "doing nothing". He's probably reading novels, maybe doing some swimming, or mindfully consuming so kind of coconut based beverage? Who knows -- it's not my business, and at least I'll be honest that I'm jealous I don't have the economic security to do the same -- authenticity is rare these days.
by guerby on 6/28/22, 12:52 PM
https://archive.ph/xHq01
by speed_spread on 6/28/22, 12:46 PM
Planets have CEOs now?
Jupiter has beaches?
I must have had a few too many.
Anyway, I give him two weeks before he stands back up and buys a big boat to do nothing around the world with influent friends and hookers and blow.
Maybe I'm just projecting.
by pru567 on 6/28/22, 3:52 PM
I've come to the conclusion that people can't be happy unless they are building something/building toward something. Doing nothing is not really an option, psychologically speaking. That's imo why adults don't make friends easily because their lives only meaningfully intersect when they have a shared goal.
by mathattack on 6/28/22, 1:52 PM
I’ve always wondered why more of my high paid friends in High Finance haven’t done this. After 20+ years of 7 figure salaries, why not chill when the markets turn? What I’ve come up with is the competitive will to work the crazy hours can’t be turned off.
by noisy_boy on 6/28/22, 1:16 PM
Finally a guy who has the cash to do nothing, has actually decided to do nothing.
by nemo44x on 6/28/22, 1:29 PM
This is just covering his ass. I remember when the CEO of a popular startup decided to step down to "spend more time with my family" and it was picked up be the media as a nice story about a man who feels it's OK to stay at home, etc. It was a total fabrication made up only to not make the struggling startup look bad and failing. Firing the CEO is a bad look.
They brought in a new CEO, the company went public years later and is doing splendid, but it was contentious for awhile.
by mrkramer on 6/28/22, 1:11 PM
He joined the company in 2019 and he's leaving it now in 2022/2023. Maybe he didn't like to be WFH CEO?
by swyx on 6/28/22, 1:08 PM
One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.
About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family. “You aren’t going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman. “You should be working rather than lying on the beach!”
The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, “And what will my reward be?”
“Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer.
“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling.
The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!”
“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again.
The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!” he said.
“And then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman.
The businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!”
Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?”
The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!”
The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “And what do you think I’m doing right now?”
by rvz on 6/28/22, 12:34 PM
Good and well done.
by t_mann on 6/28/22, 1:19 PM
Great resignation hitting the the C-suite.
by poulpy123 on 6/28/22, 3:01 PM
I would do it in the minute if I could
by EL_Loco on 6/28/22, 6:41 PM
I would have quit 10 years ago.
by zw123456 on 6/28/22, 12:48 PM
I went to the article, but everything after the first sentence was faded out and they wanted me to sign in to read it. Instead, I made up my own fictional back story about how this happened:
Rich CEO meets young sexy tattooed gen-X intern, they date, she takes him to a rave, the smoke weed after and listen to jazz. They fall in love. He quits... now fade out.
I am not sure I care what the real story is.