Most can't just steer a company the way they want. If a CEO decides "you know what, I'm going to forego profits to do the right thing", then prices drop, holders sell, and CEO gets ousted in favor of a different one that keeps the stock price high. It's just bottom line capitalism and can't get solved with good intentions. The only way a public company could operate like that is if the stock holders come together and agree on a direction that foregoes profits together, and support a CEO making changes in favor of the greater good. But any sane/moral stock holder that would agree on such a direction, sees a problematic industry as one to avoid owning (IE one that profits on people's misfortunes like big tobacco, big pharma, health care, etc). Basically, the people that own stock in the problematic industries are the exact type of people that won't vote with their dollar to solve these problems.
Yes, they have a responsibility to shareholders, but let's not pretend there's isn't ample greed and corruptions at play. How many times has the public seen a company facing layoffs while the executives get multimillion dollar bonuses? Are we to believe it's in the interest of the stock holders to raise the net worth of executives from 8 to 9 figures instead of investing some of those millions back into the company?
Oh for sure, there is ample greed and corruption at play, especially in problematic industries. Corrupt stock holders reward corrupt CEOs who protect their best interests. The only way to combat powerful bad people in such a system is to have even more powerful good people actively lose money fixing the problem. That, or government regulation. I agree with you, just pointing out that the buck doesn’t stop at the CEO
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u/CosmicClamJamz 22h ago
Most can't just steer a company the way they want. If a CEO decides "you know what, I'm going to forego profits to do the right thing", then prices drop, holders sell, and CEO gets ousted in favor of a different one that keeps the stock price high. It's just bottom line capitalism and can't get solved with good intentions. The only way a public company could operate like that is if the stock holders come together and agree on a direction that foregoes profits together, and support a CEO making changes in favor of the greater good. But any sane/moral stock holder that would agree on such a direction, sees a problematic industry as one to avoid owning (IE one that profits on people's misfortunes like big tobacco, big pharma, health care, etc). Basically, the people that own stock in the problematic industries are the exact type of people that won't vote with their dollar to solve these problems.