- From my reading it's possible for a Benefit Corporation to still be taken over or bought out.
- Benefit Corporations can convert back to regular corporations (in contrast with most 501(c)3's which cannot convert to corporations except under very particular circumstances)
- Unlike a 501(c)3, the charter of a Benefit Corporation is not legally binding
It's not to say that being a Benefit Corporation is bad (or good), but rather to say that it's kind of meaningless. I believe people should judge a for profit company, which a Benefit Corporation is, by its leadership, not necessarily by its legal designation.
Fortunately the leadership at RStudio have made themselves trustworthy, at least by the fact that they're relatively transparent and most of their stuff is open source. I'd be curious to know why they just didn't become a non-profit. I assume the main reason is because they want to be able to raise capital more easily.
Source: https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2012/05/13/benefit-corporati...