Â鶹Éç

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It’s been called the dumbest idea in the world. But many believe shareholder value is the most important, the most consequential idea of the last hundred years. In Prophets of Profit the Â鶹Éç’s Business Editor Simon Jack discovers why so many believe the prime responsibility of business is to increase profits and maximise returns to shareholders. Simon reveals how this powerful idea was propelled by a few influential individuals from academic cloisters to dominate boardrooms across the world from the 1980s onwards. He shows how the consequences have enriched many people but devastated many too. How the separation of the idea of money-making from other social obligations has led to severe social tensions and a profound misunderstanding of business within communities and governments alike. Speaking to investors managing trillions, the most powerful union boss in Britain, and CEOs who’ve been at the very top of some of the world’s biggest companies, Simon tracks how a simple idea became so powerful and why it shapes all of our lives today. In this fourth episode he examines how a new generation of business leaders pushed back against the idea.