Economics

CEOs Spurn Investor-First Model. Now Critics Ask ‘What's Next?’

  • Statement lacks details on what changes companies will enact
  • Executive pay plans, short-term pressures could bedevil firms
Jamie DimonPhotographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg
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It seemed, at least on paper, like a tectonic shift of American capitalism: The deviation from the long-held conviction that shareholder returns must always reign supreme.

In a 300-word statement released Monday, 181 leaders of some of the world’s largest companies endorsed a philosophical redrawing of the purpose of a corporation. The goal, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon, chairman of the Business Roundtable, must be to promote an economy that serves all Americans, not just investors.