I know the board has some fiduciary duty, but can a company put some guardrails on it when they go public, like saying the environment will always come first, or employees or customers or something?
I know the board has some fiduciary duty, but can a company put some guardrails on it when they go public, like saying the environment will always come first, or employees or customers or something?
No, Goodwill can even be entered on the balance sheet.
Generally it takes extreme (usually fraudulent) behaviour for it to be an issue to shareholders, and for that to stand up in court.
Whereas for strategic decisions (like employee remuneration, environmental investments, etc.), the dissenting shareholders should try to take over the board if there are enough of them.