the.com/shareholder returns
the sacred metric that turns quarterly earnings calls into hostage negotiations.
means the profit a company hands back to its owners through dividends, buybacks, or rising stock price, instead of reinvesting it.
from rose to gospel status in 1970 when economist Milton Friedman declared a corporation's only social responsibility is to increase profits for shareholders, a doctrine that reshaped american capitalism for fifty years.
friedman doctrineone 1970 essay, decades of corporate strategy
buyback booms&p 500 firms spent trillions buying own stock
counter-movement2019 business roundtable pledged stakeholders over shareholders