Building for the Long Term as a Public Benefit Corporation
Learnings and progress from our first years as a PBC
Based upon the typical corporate structure, the legal charter for virtually all U.S. for-profit companies is only “to maximize shareholder value.”
But there is now a relatively new form of for-profit corporation, a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) whose legal responsibility is to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders including customers, employees, partners, and shareholders.
When Veeva was founded the PBC option did not exist. So, we incorporated the standard way, but it never felt right. We always operated with a multi-stakeholder view, knowing our deep commitment to customers, employees, and our core value of ‘do the right thing’ enhances our ability to create shareholder value. The PBC option became available in 2013 and we converted through a shareholder vote in 2021.
So, how has it been since? Overall, we are very happy with life as a PBC. It has created deeper engagement and alignment with customers and employees. There haven’t been any negative surprises and it’s been a great source of energy and new ideas.
Considering the interests of our key stakeholders helps us build a durable business that will last for generations. It gives customers the confidence to partner with us for the long term, employees are engaged, and we attract talented people who share our values — ultimately benefiting all, including shareholders.
We’ve just published our annual PBC Report detailing our approach and the key decisions and progress we’ve made toward our PBC purpose. Our PBC objectives range from enabling faster and less expensive clinical trials to creating high-quality jobs and advocating for the elimination of non-competes.
We hope this view into our early experience operating as a PBC can help others. For us, it’s reassuring to have our legal charter officially reflect our commitment to all stakeholders and it’s helping us build a company that will deliver meaningful value for decades to come.
