>>1393811Henry Ford in the 1910s was very generous and idealistic, which caused friction with shareholders.
He insisted that since it was his company (he was the majority shareholder), he could do whatever he wanted regardless of any grievances from other shareholders. They took him to court over this and it was ruled (actually this was already in place; just reaffirmed) that the primary focus of a corporation is to generate profits for shareholders. Henry Ford retaliated by buying out all the shareholders and became sole shareholder by 1919. The negative experience he had with shareholders combined with obtaining basically omnipotent power over his company with no one being able to tell him what to do hardened him, and he basically became a giant douche after that.
Incidentally, the early 1920s was when he wrote all those anti-Semitic articles.
