alt Hacker NewsThis behavior may have started with Dodge v. Ford.
tl;dr Ford wanted to invest profits back into Ford company and Dodge forced them in court to pay dividends instead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co.
> Michigan Supreme Court held that Henry Ford had to operate the Ford Motor Company in the interests of its shareholders, rather than for the benefit of his employees or customers.
That quoted sentence does not accurately summarize the ruling; see §Significance in the article.
For a fuller treatment see:
* https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/771/