3 ms·

"the corporation, which is owned by no one" Conflating the legal fiction of the personhood of a corporation with the fact that it cannot be owned, or worse, ha

"the corporation, which is owned by no one" Conflating the legal fiction of the personhood of a corporation with the fact that it cannot be owned, or worse, has no owners, is not something I'd expect to hear from a WaPo journalist. (Upon further research, the author was neither an attorney or an economist, but did win the Pulitzer, and has since passed on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pearlstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pearlstein ) However, I still take issue with the statement that a corporation is not "owned" by the shareholders. As a matter of law, a corporation is owned by the shareholders.

bell-cot 4y ago
The 13th Amendment begs to disagree. /s
throw0101c 4y ago
> However, I still take issue with the statement that a corporation is not "owned" by the shareholders. As a matter of law, a corporation is owned by the shareholders. As a matter of law a corporation is not: > Simply and clearly, the corporation owns its own assets. In the simplest terms, a private company became a public company when the original owners gave up ownership. In turn, they received a stock certificate outlining certain rights to profits and other privileges. What they got, again, was a stock certificate not a certificate of ownership. The word “ownership” does not appear in that document. Additionally, while the shareholders are entitled to a portion of profits, as shareholders, they are no longer exposed to liabilities of the companies in which they hold shares. * https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergeorgescu/2021/07/21/the-shareholders-are-not-the-owners-of-a-corporation/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergeorgescu/2021/07/21/the-s... > This paper demonstrates that shareholder ownership, a sacred cow of business, is a myth. According to our legal system, shareholders do not own the Modern Corporation itself, nor do they own the corporate assets or profits. […] * https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1464148 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1464148 See also: Paddy Ireland (1999), 'Company Law and the Myth of Shareholder Ownership', Modern Law Review, 62, pp. 32-57.

bell-cot 4y ago

The 13th Amendment begs to disagree. /s

throw0101c 4y ago

> However, I still take issue with the statement that a corporation is not "owned" by the shareholders. As a matter of law, a corporation is owned by the shareholders. As a matter of law a corporation is not: > Simply and clearly, the corporation owns its own assets. In the simplest terms, a private company became a public company when the original owners gave up ownership. In turn, they received a stock certificate outlining certain rights to profits and other privileges. What they got, again, was a stock certificate not a certificate of ownership. The word “ownership” does not appear in that document. Additionally, while the shareholders are entitled to a portion of profits, as shareholders, they are no longer exposed to liabilities of the companies in which they hold shares. * https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergeorgescu/2021/07/21/the-shareholders-are-not-the-owners-of-a-corporation/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergeorgescu/2021/07/21/the-s... > This paper demonstrates that shareholder ownership, a sacred cow of business, is a myth. According to our legal system, shareholders do not own the Modern Corporation itself, nor do they own the corporate assets or profits. […] * https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1464148 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1464148 See also: Paddy Ireland (1999), 'Company Law and the Myth of Shareholder Ownership', Modern Law Review, 62, pp. 32-57.