Why Eric Ries believes shareholder supremacy is over

Shareholder supremacy is described as already lost, because shareholder primacy was intended to benefit investors but has turned out to be harmful. The current environment is characterized as extraction primacy, where the system prioritizes the shortest-term and most extractive investors. A generational shift is emphasized: newer workers have grown up under this framework, which is presented as relatively recent. The adoption of shareholder primacy in Delaware is cited as occurring in 1986, framed as a modern change rather than a long-standing tradition. This context is used to explain why trust collapse is taught and understood differently across generations.

"My personal view is that this fight has already been lost. First of all, shareholder primacy was supposed to be for investors, but like I said, it's actually turned out to be really bad for investors. And I think we're actually in a world of extraction primacy now. I always think of rich investors, the investors today. Yeah, we're running for the benefit of the shortest-term, most extractive investors."

"Secondly, there's a generational thing. The new generations coming into the workforce now have lived only under this idea. This idea is very recent. I always tell people if you can see a park with a tree in it, you're probably looking at something older than shareholder primacy. The key date for the adoption of shareholder primacy in Delaware is 1986. That's not that long ago. We're talking about Depeche Mode, not monks in some monastery. A very recent occurrence."

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