> I was under the impression that pre 20th century companies just existed as a legal and organizational convenience in order to help collect a number of people

> I was under the impression that pre 20th century companies just existed as a legal and organizational convenience in order to help collect a number of people with similar goals rather than to solely make a profit. You might want to have a look at an history book then. Companies had slaves, got kids working in mines, got to use the government to shout their workers who rebelled because they had no rights whatsoever, or just straight up used private armies. It was all pre 20th century already. If all this was not solely to make a profit, I don't know what it was. Furthermore the great majority of big ventures were family driven. There were not formal associations between "people with similar goals" who weren't blood related.