When you mention corporations today, especially the big American or multi-national corporations the image that is formed is generally one of total greed.  Of companies that do everything they can to maximize profit.  Convincing people to buy products or services they really don't need or could get better and cheaper from someone else.  Not making improvements to their products that would make them better, safer, last longer, etc. but would reduce profit.  And the ones who benefit most from this greed is the people at the top of the corporate ladder while those as the bottom struggle to make ends meet.
    This is not really new.  Is the 1600's the British East India Company, an early corporation, was making Hugh profits for it's shareholders.  That's the same company who's tea was thrown overboard at the Boston Tea Party.  At that time in America though, corporations were not very popular.  Very wealthy people preferred to run their companies as partnerships or trusts so they had more control and made more profit.  At that time, the corporate laws in the United States favored protection of the public over shareholders.  
    In the early nineteenth century that began to change.  First New Jersey and Delaware changed their laws regarding corporations in an effort to attract big business to those states.  By 1819, the U. S. Supreme Court was granting corporations many new rights and privileges.  Britain followed our example.
    It wasn't always like that.  Initially, corporate charters in Europe were granted by kings and queens to allow a small group of businessmen to work together to invest in a large project.  The crown kept close tabs on these corporations and didn't hesitate to revoke the charter if it appeared the corporation was getting out of control.  At various times in U. S. history, our government has made some effort to keep big corporations under control using monopoly laws to break up corporations that became too big and dominated an industry.  In the past two or three decades, monopoly laws have been largely ignored and more corporate mergers allowed by those government agencies that are supposed to protect the American people.  We are now seeing the results of those policies.