Ries: Shareholder primacy was never enacted by statutory law or referendum
Eric Ries · How The Best Companies Defend Against Mediocrity And Rot · Y Combinator · May 22, 2026 · at 27:35
Author Eric Ries argues that shareholder primacy was established by court decisions rather than democratic legislation.
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“In the history of the world. Shareholder primacy has never been subject to any referendum, any legislative action, nothing. So it's weird. If you learned in school, how a bill becomes a law, There's no law for shareholder primacy.”
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