Dodge v. Ford: Shareholder Wealth Maximization

Professor Sean Griffith discusses the complex dynamics between Henry Ford's business decisions and the Dodge brothers' lawsuit. Henry Ford invested much of his profit back into his company. In Dodge v. Ford, he told the court that his motivations were humanitarian rather than profit-driven. A closer look at Ford’s decisions reveal that his investments and product pricing also happened to create wealth for the corporation. But he claimed that shareholder wealth maximization was not his goal and the court believed him.

Sean J. Griffith is the T.J. Maloney Chair in Business Law and the Director of Fordham Corporate Law Center at Fordham University School of Law.

As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

#no86 #law #corporatelaw #corporations #lawschool #lawstudent #studylaw #learnlaw

[daveisdead]

This was the downfall of the US capital system. Now shareholders expect record profits every year and it’s never enough. The exploitation that this caused is insane

[ragnokulfbhert]

A very succinct and to the point breakdown. I wonder where modern business models and employee wages/incentives would be at if Ford had won

[holdenhockman]

This was clearly a pivotal moment in the time-line.

[Zinnytusks]

Lemme see if I understand this right. Ford, the company owner, wanted to pay his workers more to ensure they stay productive and loyal to his company while also selling his product at a lower value to encourage more sales and availability to the public. Meanwhile the Dodge brothers were bitching that they were not getting enough profits in their pockets while their contribution was investing in Ford's company shares.

You're telling me that people's wages today cannot be risen because some greedy fucks bitched in the court of law that some guy wanting to better the life of his workers, and the quality of his company wasn't making them enough money? Why are we wasting our time fighting over politics and gender identity when shit like this seems to be going over ppl's heads. This shit is grounds for a civil war ffs.

[greenflamingoentertainment]

We're all cyberpunks now, Samurai.