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do public companies always have to do what makes the shareholders the most money or risk being sued? (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I know the board has some fiduciary duty, but can a company put some guardrails on it when they go public, like saying the environment will always come first, or employees or customers or something?

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[-] NateNate60@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Legally speaking, shares determine ownership of a business entity. An entity must have one or more owners. If nobody owns something, then the State owns it. This is called "escheat". So the shares prevent that.

A law could be enacted that would eliminate the need for shares in credit unions, but so far, that hasn't been done, at least not in my home state of Oregon. Again, laws vary.

this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024

110 points (95.1% liked)

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