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Who is the modern “shareholder”? Is it only an individual who holds shares of a company? Is it any business or person who is affected by that company’s decisions and actions? Or is it both?
Business Roundtable (BRT), a group of 181 chief executives, may have the answer. On Monday, the organization announced it had redefined its “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” to include the promotion of “an economy that serves all Americans.”
“Each version of the document, issued since 1997, has endorsed principles of shareholder primacy – that corporations exist principally to serve shareholders,” the organization said in a press release. The “standard for corporate responsibility,” however, has changed — and now demands that companies benefit “all stakeholders,” including customers, employees, suppliers, and communities. Through a modern lens, the members of this wide-ranging group could, in some ways, all be considered “shareholders” to some degree.
“The American dream is alive, but fraying,” said Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and chairman of BRT. “Major employers are investing in their workers and communities because they know it is the only way to be successful over the long term."