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Not if company is publicly traded or has investors.

Only companies where owner is top boss can, sometimes. The moment boss has to answer to investors, growth is required.

Not convinced this is because of investors. Investors want high returns on invested capital and these growth initiatives are often the opposite of that (see Meta's Metaverse play which investors hated). Executives want to empire build at the expense of both employee stability AND shareholder returns.

> Can a utility just stay a utility?

Only small indie utilities.

For most other things, to grow initially to serve the intended functions to as much of the target audience as possible, requires investment. Investors want that growth to continue, even if it makes little or no sense to the original objectives.

shareholder primacy. it’s not the only strategy, but it is the most common.

Not without regulation, and the US decided to do away with those for some reason. It's just too much money to abuse your position in market A to pivot into market B.

Capitalism - regulation => utilities's entire point is to capture a monopoly to then abuse it.