this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 33 points 4 days ago (3 children)

And we know that this is fiction because fiduciary duty means he'd immediately get fired and sued for turning around the company

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 35 points 4 days ago

Actually, Tony, Pepper, and Obadiah together owned more than half of the company's stock. Obadiah would have needed virtually ALL of the other shareholders to agree to such a lawsuit, and he decided to use violence instead of bothering with the headache that would have been. After he died, anyone trying to do the same would have needed to get Ezekiel Stane on board, while Tony and Pepper were consolidating their control over shares and offering a lot of money for anyone who wanted to cash out of SIA while it was still worth something. So yeah, Tony stopped that from happening by being good at business, it wasn't just plot armour.

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

He immediately got fired and sued. Have you watched the movie?

[–] AEsheron@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

No he doesn't? He gets sidelined for a while, which he doesn't fight because he's dostracted. Never gets sued. The second movie starts with a hearing where the gov is trying to acquire his new weapons, but it's not a lawsuit and has nothing to do with the company.

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

He gets sidelined for a while

So, tell me how he gets sidelined.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social -3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Because he's busy building Iron Man armors and locked on his basement/garage and not doing anything CEO related?

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

At one point I believe the dude tells him that the board has locked him out. So it's not quite as happenstance as you're suggesting.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social -1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Are we forgetting Stane was orchestrating the whole thing? Like, the entire movie is him just scheming to take over Stark Industries because he wants to continue selling weapons. I wouldn't put it past him to essentially strongarm or manipulate the other stockholders into locking Stark out, especially given that the entire movie sets him up as someone who can and WILL use violence to get what he wants.

I wouldn't even be surprised if he essentially threatened the other shareholders into locking Tony out, perhaps not directly though.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago

I don't know how you think I'm forgetting him when I literally brought him up.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Fiduciary Duty is a lie created in the 80s to make corporate raiders more appealing.

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Look up Dodge v Ford. This case set the precedent for what is now known as fiduciary duty.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago

They discuss it in the wiki article:

Dodge is often misread or mistaught as setting a legal rule of shareholder wealth maximization. This was not and is not the law. Shareholder wealth maximization is a standard of conduct for officers and directors, not a legal mandate. The business judgment rule [which was also upheld in this decision] protects many decisions that deviate from this standard. This is one reading of Dodge. If this is all the case is about, however, it isn't that interesting.