It might actually end up being a hit to their bottom line which causes them to rethink their poor behavior
... results in lower profits and therefore lower returns for Sally Secretary's IRA, Margie Manager's 401K, Stanley Sophmore's college fund, and Tommy Truckdriver's pension, as well as for the regular Mom and Pop investors who have maybe $5k or $35k invested in some mutual fund that includes the company's stock.
Such unadulterated bullsh*t!
First off, most of the stock is owned by a relatively few people. Those would be the people that would be affected and well they should. If they are allowing the company they own stock in to engage in sleazy business practices then they deserve to take the hit.
And even in the rare case of companies where much of the stock is owned by a myriad of people, either directly or indirectly through mutual funds, then screw them too. After all, this is a free market and we are all supposed to be on our own. We should all be fully aware of everything that every company we invest in is doing. If I have money in a mutual fund that invests in hundreds or thousands of companies and I don't know everything about all those hundreds or thousands of companies then I am just being a lazy a*s punk bitch and deserve everything that happens to me.
After all the poor bastards that got hosed by ATT should have read every word of the agreement they clicked on and known that they wouldn't have gotten the free phone that ATT seemingly promised them.
Or do you think that shareholders should be cut some sort of slack in this supposedly free market we have?