A psychological trick used by tech companies back in the day was the "one-time charge". They'd save up their losses then write them off all at once against a single bad earnings report, which would soon fade from memory. Then it was right back to, "Look how great everything's going!"

The technique became so refined that they would do it in advance and sell it as good news. They'd set up a grand new initiative with huge funding and much fanfare. Over the course of time, they'd shuffle losses off to that venture, which would eventually go kaput. Then in paragraph 14 of a story in the weekend financial pages, they'd say, "Can't win 'em all, but we'll keep trying!"

Worked every time.