@Dominic Mazoch posted:The millions spent by UP could be a concern to a stockholder.
That is why public companies have boards of directors and a CEO/CFO, to make decisions like this. There are shareholders who think spending money on R and D is 'wasted money', some of them are big enough to influence how a company operates, and said company often ends up going off the rails *shrugs*. Stockholder management doesn't always make for the best decision making in any event.
As far as the 'millions it cost', likely they decided the PR value and good will value (both of which affect the valuation of a company) is worth it. Given the time span to get 4014 running, likely it was a blip in the budget of a billion dollar + corporation each year for several years.