[musicale]

When companies focus on profit at the expense of all other goals, the result is typically disadvantageous to customers, employees, and society at large.

See also: crapification; financialization; parasitic private equity

I can't speak for HN, but I imagine some readers are more interested in the benefits of cool technology beyond putting more money in the pockets of investors and management.

[deepsun]

> When companies focus on profit at the expense of all other goals, the result is typically disadvantageous to customers, employees, and society at large.

I grew up in USSR and saw with my own eyes what happens when personal profit is not the #1 focus.

Yes, _commercial_ companies should also focus on everything else as well, but profit must be #1. And the society steer the businesses towards good things by implementing laws that businesses must follow.

Commercial corporations _exists_ to make money to shareholders. It's written in laws and company bylaws. That's exactly what society decided commercial companies should do. If a _commercial_ company puts something else before profits -- it can be sued by shareholders (lawsuits follow laws, aka boundaries put by society).

And by the way, we already have framework to do your idea: companies can register as "non-profit" or "public benefit". So your suggestion is easily implemented today by forbidding commercial companies and only allowing non-profits or public benefit.

[lanstin]

That works out ok as long as they are one of a large numbers of producers, competing equally, without monopoly power or excessive physical power, for a large number of consumers free to Ursula their own best interest; a certain amount of information symmetry is also a necessary axiom.

If instead you have a small number of monopolies with legislative capture, then you need them to be virtuous.