You don't have to go public and you don't have to always go for short term profit (Bezos didn't, for a long time). This is just how the game is played because

You don't have to go public and you don't have to always go for short term profit (Bezos didn't, for a long time). This is just how the game is played because that's how it has always been played. It's not very imaginative if we assume that maximizing profit is truly the requirement of all companies, because it's not. There's also nothing that says that customer satisfaction and profit aren't mutual, it's just many companies lean towards profit.