Holdings vs actively managing... The list goes on and on, Des News, KSL, Deseret
Book etc.I'd say the sole focus of the majority these businesses is not ROI, ROI is obviously crucial to their success and mission.
I get there might not be much of a spectrum within the for-profit side of the church, but owning equities or shares within private corporations is different than some of their endeavors.
I'm sure ROI was a key decision factor in the downtown project but I'd say a lot of other things played a bigger factor i.e. the church is not and doesn't intend on maximizing profit for the 5B it allotted to fund the project, which is to say they could have had a higher ROI elsewhere.