alt Hacker NewsThis is the most toxic of urban legends. Fiduciary duty to shareholders means acting in the interests of the company rather than your own. There is no duty to maximise profits against all morals.
This is the most toxic of urban legends. Fiduciary duty to shareholders means acting in the interests of the company rather than your own. There is no duty to maximise profits against all morals.
You're absolutely right, but the line between acting in the interest of the company and acting to maximize profits is so thin it might as well not exist.
It can be in the company's interest to act for the good of society and a CEO can claim that it is his fudiciary duty to act in the interest of society.
But when society's interests are in direct conflict with the interests of the company you cannot expect a CEO to act in the interest of society.
Even if a CEO is perfectly within their rights to act against the interests of the company, it doesn't change the fact that investors might replace him if the CEO does so consistently.