CEOs' shift away from shareholder value was aimed at millennials, says former Business Roundtable president

was aimed at millennials who are growing skeptical of capitalism, according to John Engler, the former president of the pro-business coalition.

The Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from large U.S. companies, said Monday that shareholder value should no longer be the primary goal of a corporation. Instead, firms should invest in employees, deliver value to customers, support outside communities and deal ethically with suppliers, according to the group's statement.

Engler, who was president of the Business Roundtable for seven years until 2017, said this statement was "nicely timed," especially with the presidential election in 2020.

Welcome to China

That’s the way it should have always been.

These CEOs must have made enough money from their led stock buyback of their own company stocks. Now sanity check. They will get replaced by new set of CEOs promoting same primary interests, the stock price. However they truly can add good things for society as 2nd objective

LOLOLOL Yeah right.

.... and lower the radio between CEO and worker pay.

It’s the nature of competition that turns companies into blood sucking monsters.

Well, I’m rewatching “Dallas” in Prime and I can tell you they’re wrong. That’s not how J.R. would do it.

Hire Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to be chairman of all your boards and you will get to the goal. Lower all executive salaries, tax stock options at 70 % and pay 100 % health insurance. Plus stop all fossil fuel use in the companies.

The only way anyone can “invest in employees” is by making a healthy profit

Absurd. That’s like a dad saying his volunteer work is more important than his family.

These things are not mutually exclusive, we just need to educate business people on longer term corporate health. Capitalism works but it doesn’t magically eliminate greed. We need smart policies that make companies always add more weight to long term benefits

They get fired based on stock price

Duh

Great that they finally have the sound byte going. Now let's see what kind of action they put into their words.

Or, we can tax these greedy fuks back into the middle class.

MommasOptions They absolutely should. But shareholders come first.

That way they are not held accountable to make a profit for their investors!

What do they say behind closed doors? Come on, is anyone believing this?

You mean like they used to do.

The primary goal is now to propogate pseudo-altruism as their mission bc that’s what will drive revenue in the long-run**

dismiss for unsuitability

🤔

Finally

And Love not War.

I thought stakeholders as described (employees, clients, vendors, community/political...) where the drivers to long-term shareholder value creation... By the way more concretely measured... By the way did they mention any new metrics to calculate their bonus?

Accolades to Walmart? GTFOH.

'firms should invest in employees, deliver value to customers, support outside communities, and deal ethically with suppliers'..so.. NATIONALIZE THE FIRMS and you'll get all those goals... If they stay private, it is just marketing...

They are serving shareholders by doing that

🤣🤣🤣

Do something. Talk is cheap. Yes maximizing shareholder value is a problem. Milton Friedman was wrong.

Too late, joe Kernan, said they r nuts and the free shares he has received over the last 20 years need to be paid out. Morality is in the eye of the beholder. Real estate is proof that pay rates have gone nowhere

Sounds like about 200 good jobs available.

Oh my, what a concept!

Wouldn’t it be great if the shareholders agree ? 🙏😊

Yes, and many are currently laying off and shipping jobs to India and Eastern Europe. Give me a break.

Right......then those 200 CEOs head back to their boards and buy back more stock.

Shivaune Analysis | The Finance 202: Corporate critics cautiously optimistic about new CEO MissionStatement

Cough cough yeah right

Smart move

Corporations where all stakeholders benefit should be the norm, not the exception. Don’t stop at 200. Let’s grow this list and call out those not subscribing to this philosophy. Everyone will benefit!!

This gets the Big Duh award.

This is already embedded in the maximizing shareholder’s value objective. It is a means to an end ie mutually inclusive. By satisfying other stakeholders u are indirectly satisfying the main obj

I agree ☝️

Why should anyone invest in a company that does not seek to maximize profits in order to assure the highest possible returns to its shareholders? Retaining the best workers, keeping customers happy and promptly paying suppliers are sine qua nons of any profit-maximizing strategy.

What proportion of these CEOs would put their money where their mouths are and take their public companies private? Answer this question, and then we have a real discussion starting.

How ironic. For decades Western investors have mocked Corporate Japan for not prioritising shareholder returns and questioned the wisdom of putting customers and employees first. It’s really amusing!

I wonder if this is lip service to appease the presidential hopeful gang or they mean it seriously. The last time banks were forced to give a percentage of loans to the communities irrespective of qualifications, we had the mortgage collapse/recession.

Sounds legit

Wow is this supposed to be great new news? Wasn’t that the promised service to customers all along?

Yeah, that’s what you say in public.

Wouldn’t all of these values benefit shareholders in the end unless they are just about greed

They be very worried about social unrest coming to them very soon to change their 'ethics' en masse.

lopezlinette What were they smoking?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Socialism

Aaaaaaaaand shareholders vote against ‘investing in employees, delivering value to customers, supporting outside communities, and deal ethically with suppliers’ at the cost of their bottom line.

Will they say that when they are about to miss earnings? And their job is on the line.

Sounds like we are overpaying a bunch of CEOs then.

So we’re going back to the Henry Ford philosophy;employees should be respected and able to afford the cars they make.The “please the shareholders at all cost”edict is unrealistic.Stocks are punished and sold off if companies miss their quarter by a penny.The imbalance is ruinous

That’s not capitalism

These were the beloved values of IBM, until -1990. Then employees became Liabilities, offshoring of mfg reduced product quality, and internal numbers became what mgmt could manipulate. Turning that back will take years & likely same with other corporations.

nytimes washingtonpost TIME business WSJ DNC BillGates WarrenBuffett JeffBasos Finally, somebodies have started to see the malaise chocking the country. We want to see ACTION!

OMG! I learned that in Business 101. Happy employees = Happy customers, resulting in more business which means more profit.

The problem is that's not the legal duty of corp directors & officers, and they don't get to redefine their legal duties according to personal views. There are good economic reasons for the primary duty to be to shareholders & if that's to be changed it should be by legislation.

How many of those polled CEO's walk that walk? crickets

What do they have to lose, they have fat salaries and perks and bonuses. Let them not run away from their responsibilities and cheat shareholders. They are employed to do all the above.

Invest in employees+deliver value to customers+support communities+good supplier relations = maximize share holder value How else would you do it?

Definitely agree!

And not ripping off and destroying the planet? maybe? No?

lol 😁😀😁😂😁😂

Yeah, right

They should start lobbying for regulation. If they choose to rely on the kind hearts of other CEOs the earth will be gone.

Yeah... Keep dreaming. I don't want any of those as managers in my portfolio.

If goods made in China lasts for a MERE 6 months WHAT SORT OF VALUE have you CEOs been delivering for the past 50+ years? How much MORE WORSE can it get?

Talk is cheap. Let’s see them advocate for capital to be taxed the same as labor. It’s the reason we all say “the rich get richer, and poor get poor” it doesn’t have to be that way.

Wholeheartedly agree!

No sh!t

KatGodspell Damage is done, can CEO'S resuscitate the Middle-class in 1 lifetime or are they just trying to ameliorate the damage done & head off a new 1776

LOL unprecedented wealth and success and opportunity my ASS! We're going to CancelStudentDebt and the 1% are going to pay for it Bernie2020

'and is a lie for the purpose of improving their brands' should be the next phrase

Sounds like a hell of a lot of social unrest with these views being passed by the Masters of the Universe. Batten down the hatches.

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