The Shareholder Value Myth
How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations, and the Public

If you own stock, invest in companies, or are starting a new business, read this book! If you so much as skim the business pages in a newspaper, there’s little doubt you’ve heard it said or seen it written that corporate officers and directors are required by law to maximize shareholder value and tha......more

Short rather dense book. The first thirty of so pages could have been reduced to a paragraph or two. The author steps through a set of mis-assumptions regarding corporations in the US and at one point contrasts US law with British law and makes some interesting observations about the differences. Li......more

A pretty damning critique of shareholder value maximization (SVM). According to the author SVM is not only bad for stakeholders, but ultimately shareholders and companies as well. I already believed that before picking up this book, but the argument was satisfyingly logical. I'd steer clear from this......more

An extremely interesting book that directly questions the prevalent wisdom of our times- the primacy of shareholders in each and every aspect of corporate decision-making and governance. The most eye opening aspect for me was the revelation that no law, unlike what is taught and preached everywhere......more

Despite some great points made in this book, I don’t think this will change anyone’s mind and it fails to provide (or even attempt to provide) a coherent or compelling replacement for shareholder value maximization as the overriding firm objective. I viewed this somewhat like Marxist critiques of ca......more