The majority of businesses still work that way. VC backed companies are outliers but they are in the press a lot.
Any publicly held company is ethically obligated to maximize profits as the agents of the shareholders, the vast majority of which only want the stock price to be maximized.
Still can be done. Just gotta stay private.
Even private businesses are at risk of a well funded company coming undercutting them on costs until they sell themselves or fold.
Can only work if everyone whose money you're using to run the business is OK with it.
Really depends on how the company is setup. If you have shares issued, you really only need a majority (not everyone) of the people with voting shares to be ok with it.