The decision followed a New York Times report this month that G.M. had, for years, been sharing data about drivers’ mileage, braking, acceleration and speed with the insurance industry. The drivers were enrolled — some unknowingly, they said — in OnStar Smart Driver, a feature in G.M.’s internet-connected cars that collected data about how the car had been driven and promised feedback and digital badges for good driving.
If the article link contains a paywall, you can consider reading this alternative article instead: ‘GM Stops Sharing Driver Data With Brokers Amid Backlash’ on Ars Technica.
For the vast majority of the shareholders, profit maximization is the end goal. Nothing else matters.
Fiduciary duty does not require you do what they want. If the majority of stock holders don’t like your management, they can replace you. Fiduciary duty basically just means that you have to act in good faith.
But your assertion also isn’t true. Most shareholders are long term shareholders who want stable growth, not the short term spikes followed by hard crashes that are the result of forcibly extracting profit without paying appropriate attention to long term sustainability.
Apologies if my tone came off jarring. Shareholder value creation being the default position has left me a bit bitter towards the ideas of there being any actual effective corporate governance that doesn’t just favor those at the very top.
You were fine. There’s definitely enough with influence to push that agenda, and it warrants bitterness.
I’m only correcting it in the hopes that people recognize the groups pushing for that are full of shit and just trying to extract value and leave normal shareholders holding the bag.