"Corporations are there to make increasing profits for their shareholders, period."
This is an overly-simplistic and ultimately quite wrong view of corporations.
Corporations exist to achieve the goals their shareholders set for them, which may include increasing profits, but it may not. That's certainly not the only goal the shareholders may set.
How did you manage to be pedantic on me? You are right. However I don't agree that it's "overly-simplistic" but I don't have statistics to back up my impression.
Also I think you are wrong when it comes to the US. In the US, corporations are legally obligated to maximize profits.
No, though that's a very common belief. The reality is more complicated.
The directors of a for-profit corporation have to make decisions that they in good faith believe will lead to shareholder value, and there is considerable leeway in determining what that means. It does not always mean maximizing profit, and the timeframe for the increased value can be very long.
In addition, there are a number of other forms of corporations (non-profits, Low-Profit, Benefit, etc) that can expressly put a public good ahead of profits.
This is an overly-simplistic and ultimately quite wrong view of corporations.
Corporations exist to achieve the goals their shareholders set for them, which may include increasing profits, but it may not. That's certainly not the only goal the shareholders may set.