Every company has shareholders, public just means that shares can be traded publicly. A private shareholder does not need to be part of the company. If enough shareholders at Valve decide to make the royalty to be listed on Steam 50% instead of 30%, no one can stop them. Both public and private companies need to keep shareholders happy because they literally own the company. While that is easier with fewer shareholders, it is by no means a guarantee there won’t be trouble. Just like there are hundreds of public companies that operate without problems but you never hear about those because business as usual is boring af