Steam

10290 readers

14 users here now

Steam is a video game digital distribution service by Valve.

Steam News | Steam Beta Client news

Useful tools:
SteamDB
SteamCharts
Issue tracker for Linux version of Steam

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

testman@lemmy.ml

1265

What do you think of this prediction? (programming.dev)

submitted 5 months ago by federino@programming.dev to c/steam@lemmy.ml

372 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There is a common belief that corporate directors have a legal duty to maximize corporate profits and "shareholder value" even if this means skirting ethical rules, damaging the environment or harming employees. But this belief is utterly false. To quote the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the recent Hobby Lobby case: "Modern corporate law does not require for-profit corporations to pursue profit at the expense of everything else, and many do not."

– Lynn Stout, professor of corporate and business law, Cornell University

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

For-profit vs. Non-profit is an entirely different distinction under US law, with specific legal definitions for each. This is entirely separate under US law from publicly traded vs. privately owned, which has separate specific legal definitions.

Valve is a for-profit privately owned company. That is what allows it to not maximize shareholder value, and is the unstated distinction that allows your quote to be true.

For-profit publicly traded companies do have a legal responsibility for such.

[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 1 points 5 months ago

I don't want to quote dump multiple paragraphs, but Stout explicitly explains that's not correct in the following paragraphs, citing relevant case law where appropriate.

I'm not a lawyer, but that article reads pretty clearly to me; I'd be interested to hear if you read it and get a different interpretation.