That's not why corporations get sued by shareholders. A corporation's objectives are whatever they say it is, and they can spend money on them however they like

That's not why corporations get sued by shareholders. A corporation's objectives are whatever they say it is, and they can spend money on them however they like. They have to disclose what's going on and the risks thereof. They get sued for failing to disclose material info and risks. So if Monsanto wants to start an expensive project to build an extremely risky space elevator, all they have to do is make the proper disclosures and they're probably fine.