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10 public benefit corporations tied to U.S. stock market listings

These 10 public benefit corporations, from Lemonade to Veeva Systems, show how a legal duty to pursue a stated public benefit fits with a U.S. stock listing

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A publicly traded company usually answers to one central question from its shareholders: is it making money? A public benefit corporation, or PBC, has to answer a second question too. Its charter names a specific public benefit, and its directors are legally bound to pursue that benefit alongside profit. That dual obligation does not disappear when the company sells shares on a stock exchange.

The PBC is a for-profit corporate form, not a charity or a nonprofit. It raises capital, pays employees and seeks returns for investors like any other corporation. What changes is the legal standard its board works under. Directors cannot treat shareholder value as the only goal. They must also account for the specific public benefit written into the charter.

The legal framework dates to 2010. Maryland passed the first U.S. benefit corporation statute that year. Delaware added PBC provisions to its General Corporation Law in 2013. Several companies in this list are Delaware PBCs. Their boards answer to that state's version of the rules.

A PBC is also easy to confuse with a B Corp. The two are different. PBC status is a legal structure chosen under state corporate law. B Corp certification is a private credential issued by the nonprofit B Lab. A company can hold one without the other, and several of the companies below hold both.

This article covers a selection of 10 public benefit corporations tied to U.S. stock listings. It is not a ranking or a complete list. The companies span insurance, eyewear, footwear, online learning, food, higher education, life sciences software, jewelry, residential solar and banking. They also show different routes to the same status. Veeva Systems converted to a PBC after its 2013 listing. At Amalgamated, the PBC is the bank, while its parent holding company is the one that went public.

Each slide covers one company: what it sells, when it went public and how its PBC status fits its business. Each one also explains a different part of how the structure works, from the B Corp distinction to the duties of directors.

Lemonade insurance and its Delaware PBC status

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Lemonade is an insurance company organized as a Delaware public benefit corporation, and it is also a Certified B Corp. It went public on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2020.

The company sells renters, home and pet insurance through an app.

Its Giveback program links the insurance business to charitable giving. Part of the premium money that goes unclaimed is sent to charities. Customers choose which charities receive it. That places part of the company's social commitment inside the product, not only in its corporate documents.

Lemonade carries two labels, and they come from different places. Its PBC status is a legal form adopted under Delaware corporate law. The public benefit it pursues is named in its charter. That status changes the standard its board works under, and the company remains a for-profit business.

Its B Corp certification comes from B Lab. It is a credential, not a corporate structure. Earning it does not change how Lemonade is incorporated or what its charter says.

The difference shows up in where each commitment lives. The PBC duty sits in the company's governing documents. Its directors must weigh that duty alongside stockholders' financial interests. The certification sits outside the company. An independent nonprofit grants it, not a state legislature.

For a company with publicly traded shares, holding both gives investors two separate signals. One rests on corporate law. The other rests on an outside organization's assessment. Neither replaces the other, and Lemonade holds both as a listed company.

Warby Parker and its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program

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Warby Parker, the eyeglasses and sunglasses retailer, is a public benefit corporation that became a public company through a direct listing on the NYSE in September 2021. Its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program supplies glasses through nonprofit partners.

Customers can buy its frames online or in stores that Warby Parker runs itself. The company also holds Certified B Corp status, a credential separate from its PBC charter.

The program links the retail business to a charitable aim. Nonprofit partners, not Warby Parker's retail channels, handle distribution of the glasses.

Warby Parker's route to the NYSE differed from a standard initial public offering. In a traditional IPO, a company issues new shares and sells them to investors. Investment banks usually act as underwriters and help set the offering price before trading begins.

A direct listing skips that step. Shares already held by founders, employees and early investors become available to trade on the exchange. No underwriter buys a block of stock in advance to resell. The exchange typically publishes a reference price beforehand, but it is not an........

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