I really appreciate the assistance in wrapping my noodle around the Shadowrun universe. Ironically the idea that the mega are more like a big multinational now rather than some sort of all powerful despotic ..... thing ..... also helps my friend's son. He has been drawn to Shadowrun because it is something he can imagine much more easily than a D&D or other fantasy realm. Things are different, sure, but enough the same as to be identifiable. I honestly couldn't tell from the reading I had done whether the megas were large multinational corporations or something absolutely different. Making money only makes sense when you don't already have all of it. Since the megas are interested in making money, they must not have all of it. PR only matters if the people you are trying to influence can exert some level of control over the party engaging in PR. Since the megas DO engage in PR, there must be some degree to which the public does have some sort of recourse.
Even when you can't see the pipe that brings the water into your house, if you turn on the tap and water comes out, you can assume there is a pipe somewhere. Thanks to everyone for letting me know that while the world of Shadowrun can be a bit bizarre, some basic logic still does apply.