Common misconception, they are a public benefit corporation, which is a shorthand that means they do not serve for the benefit of their public shareholders but instead are ruled exclusively by their founders and Ben Bernanke. It’s tongue in cheek!

Shareholders in PBC have no sway. Look up drakes landing v. tilden park from earlier this year. A PBC was in financial trouble and two specific lenders proposed a solution: financing and debt conversion that would increase their combined ownership from roughly 25% to 85%, heavily diluting all other shareholders. An independent special committee of the PBC approved it.

Shareholders holding more than half the stock had requested a vote against this, but none occurred. They were told that the mission of the PBC came first.

It’s an absolutely crazy financial loophole. Basically, if you found your company under these PBC rules (which have only existed for like a decade), you can avoid any accountability to shareholders and do whatever the fuck you want. It’s a total subversion of property law. You can own a majority of the company and they can still unilaterally vote to dilute your holdings to zero.