Re:Achtung: Decentralize, decentralize, decentralize
by daveFNbuck on Monday March 26, 2018 @11:23AM
(#16679561)
Hobby Lobby is a private company, and this was critical to the ruling. The fiduciary duty myth is about public companies, so Hobby Lobby does not work as a counter-example.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Achtung: Decentralize, decentralize, decentralize
by WorldMaker on Monday March 26, 2018 @02:42PM
(#16681333)
The same fiduciary duty legal precedents still matter to private companies. Even private companies have shareholders (we don't have a model for companies that do not have shareholders), and the fiduciary duty of a private company is absolutely a factor in any "corporate breakup" when Founders come to disagreements, dissolve companies, et cetera.
I agree with your implication in using the word "myth" that fiduciary duty as a concern is overblown in the collective world of public corporations (the decision in Dodge v Ford was hugely problematic and its shadow haunts us all), but it's not a myth in that it doesn't exist.
Re:Achtung: Decentralize, decentralize, decentralize
by daveFNbuck on Monday March 26, 2018 @06:08PM
(#16683093)
Yeah, I was referring specifically to the myth quoted by the parent, "There is no promise that a company can make to its users that outweighs the fiduciary duty that obligates them to maximize profits by any means. The only defense of this is legislation and consumer choice." I don't think that people believe this about private companies.