Most definitely, we have a seen a version of this within our lifetimes through the history of Gates foundation laundering Bill Gates's public image from a historic lows in the 90's to being seen as a "redeemed" counterpart to the new generation of tech billionaires right up until his divorce cracked his public image he spent 20 years building.

A lot of those acts were definitely in response to criticism, but I think in general the billionaires of the time cared more about their public image and in contributing to society. The whole idea of Silicon Valley rebels didn’t really exist.