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> Amazon are forced and obligated to use legal tax avoidance strategies to be competitive and to fulfil their fiduciary duty Any precedent where shareholders h

> Amazon are forced and obligated to use legal tax avoidance strategies to be competitive and to fulfil their fiduciary duty Any precedent where shareholders have successfully sued a company for failing to exploit legal tax avoidance strategies would be appreciated. Otherwise, "forced and obligated" feels a bit of a stretch.

shawnz 7y ago
Forced because of their competitors. Obligated for legal reasons.
- gamblor956 7y ago
  Neither is true. Corporations are not fiduciaries for their shareholders and they do not have a fiduciary obligation to maximize shareholder value or even to protect their shareholders' investments. The board of a corporation is tasked with protecting the shareholders' investments by overseeing the selection of a CEO and corporate structural issues. And that's it.
  - shawnz 7y ago
    > The board of a corporation is tasked with protecting the shareholders' investments by overseeing the selection of a CEO and corporate structural issues. And that's it. Right. So they have a duty to select a CEO who doesn't enable the unnecessary waste of corporate money on optional taxes.
    - gamblor956 7y ago
      No, that's exactly wrong. They don't have a duty to minimize waste, otherwise they would have a duty to not award golden parachutes or large executive compensation packages or even to pay themselves more than a few hundred bucks a year.
      - shawnz 7y ago
        > otherwise they would have a duty to not award golden parachutes or large executive compensation packages That's actually true though, they do have such a duty. http://www.shareholderoppression.com/excessive-compensation http://www.shareholderoppression.com/excessive-compensation
        gamblor956 7y ago
        That only applies to approving their own excessive compensation.. It helps to read things before you link to then....
    - showdead 7y ago
      > So they have a duty to select a CEO who doesn't enable the unnecessary waste of corporate money on optional taxes. Waste is one of a very short list of categories that are considered something no one wants: https://medium.com/bull-market/there-is-no-effective-fiduciary-duty-to-maximize-profits-939ae50d0572 https://medium.com/bull-market/there-is-no-effective-fiducia...

shawnz 7y ago

Forced because of their competitors. Obligated for legal reasons.

gamblor956 7y ago
Neither is true. Corporations are not fiduciaries for their shareholders and they do not have a fiduciary obligation to maximize shareholder value or even to protect their shareholders' investments. The board of a corporation is tasked with protecting the shareholders' investments by overseeing the selection of a CEO and corporate structural issues. And that's it.
- shawnz 7y ago
  > The board of a corporation is tasked with protecting the shareholders' investments by overseeing the selection of a CEO and corporate structural issues. And that's it. Right. So they have a duty to select a CEO who doesn't enable the unnecessary waste of corporate money on optional taxes.
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    No, that's exactly wrong. They don't have a duty to minimize waste, otherwise they would have a duty to not award golden parachutes or large executive compensation packages or even to pay themselves more than a few hundred bucks a year.
    - shawnz 7y ago
      > otherwise they would have a duty to not award golden parachutes or large executive compensation packages That's actually true though, they do have such a duty. http://www.shareholderoppression.com/excessive-compensation http://www.shareholderoppression.com/excessive-compensation
      - gamblor956 7y ago
        That only applies to approving their own excessive compensation.. It helps to read things before you link to then....
  - showdead 7y ago
    > So they have a duty to select a CEO who doesn't enable the unnecessary waste of corporate money on optional taxes. Waste is one of a very short list of categories that are considered something no one wants: https://medium.com/bull-market/there-is-no-effective-fiduciary-duty-to-maximize-profits-939ae50d0572 https://medium.com/bull-market/there-is-no-effective-fiducia...