It’s odd that this question which specifically refers to “legal obligations” appears on skeptics.stackexchange.com and not law.stackexchange.com. But the accept

It’s odd that this question which specifically refers to “legal obligations” appears on skeptics.stackexchange.com and not law.stackexchange.com. But the accepted answer hints at the true position when quoting another source that says “the business judgment rule ensures that, contrary to popular belief, the managers of public companies have no enforceable legal duty to maximize shareholder value.” That is, as pointed out in a less-upvoted answer [1], there is indeed a legal duty to act in the (financial) interest of the company and its shareholders, but courts allows for some risk-taking and for value to be realised over a long period, so you can’t prove a breach of the duty solely by reference to share prices. [1] https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/25118/19389 https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/25118/19389