There is no legal requirement for a company to prioritize or only consider shareholder value when making decisions, and never has been. This idea is a meme but

There is no legal requirement for a company to prioritize or only consider shareholder value when making decisions, and never has been. This idea is a meme but it's a straw man. The law doesn't say that. In fact CEOs have enormous leeway to do whatever they like, even if it's not good for shareholder profits. The accountability mechanism isn't a legal requirement to make shareholders money but the ability of shareholders to appoint a board who will then fire the CEO if they're not doing a good job. But those shareholders can choose the board and the board choose the CEO using whatever criteria they like, including making less profit to prioritize other things. There is a generalized "duty of care" requirement in most jurisdictions, but it can be and often is interpreted much more widely than a requirement to maximize shareholder returns.