For years, Google has used anonymous LLCs to secure development deals and tax breaks with local officials, whom it then signs to broad nondisclosure agreements in an attempt to keep its role in negotiations secret for as long as possible, the Washington Post reports. The news comes days after Google announced a plan to spend $13B…
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow on Motley Fool Money — The Motley Fool
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow appeared on the Motley Fool Money podcast to talk about stock buybacks and Amazon. Amazon rebuffs the Big Apple. Coke fizzles while Pepsi sparkles. And NVIDIA stops the bleeding. Analysts Andy Cross, Ron Gross, and Jason Moser discuss those stories and talk Activision Blizzard, Shopify, Restaurant Brands International, and UnderArmour….
The vast majority of reported company earnings are not fully audited – MarketWatch
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow is quoted in an article about the decreasing number of earnings reports that are audited and the pressure on auditors to make the final results consistent with the unaudited numbers. “Earnings reports have become less and less reliable, and investors are understandably increasingly skeptical. The next step should be increasing…
Opinion | Schumer and Sanders: Limit Corporate Stock Buybacks – The New York Times
Senators Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders have a proposal to restrict stock buybacks by requiring companies to First, stock buybacks don’t benefit the vast majority of Americans. That’s because large stockholders tend to be wealthier. Nearly 85 percent of all stocks owned by Americans belong to the wealthiest 10 percent of households. Of course, many…
Google Shareholders and Workers Call on Board to Fix ‘Diversity Crisis’ – Bloomberg
Over the past year, employees at Alphabet Inc.’s Google have protested over worker rights, a military contract, and the handling of sexual misconduct. Now, along with shareholders, they’ve written a resolution [filed by Zevin Asset Management] to Alphabet’s board, calling for reform in areas including racial and gender diversity, and asking the board to consider…
Webinar on the Most Outrageously Overpaid CEOs of 2018
Join As You Sow’s Rosanna Landis Weaver, Founder and CEO of HIP Investor, Paul Herman, and ex-Secretary of Labor Robert Reich in a live webinar ob the most egregiously overpaid CEOS of the S&P 500. Source: Registration
More U.S. Companies Separating Chief Executive and Chairman Roles – WSJ
A push by corporate governance experts, shareholders and, in some cases, regulators to untangle the chairman and chief executive positions at U.S. public companies is gaining traction.The percentage of S&P 500 companies whose chief executives also serve as chairman reached 45.6% in 2018, compared with 48.7% the year before and the lowest percentage in at…
Diversity Thresholds: How Social Norms, Visibility, and Scrutiny Relate to Group Composition | Academy of Management Journal
Analyses of S&P 1500 boards reveal that significantly more boards include exactly two women (the descriptive social norm) than would be expected by chance. This overrepresentation of two-women boards–a phenomenon we call “twokenism”–is more pronounced among more visible companies, consistent with our theorizing around impression management and scrutiny. Experimental data corroborate these findings and provide…
Shareholder activism is on the rise, but companies are fighting back – CNN
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow is quoted in a CNN story about shareholder activism and the way corporate executives are pushing back, including the fake front groups ACCF and Main Street Investors Coalition. Leveraging shareholder votes for environmental and social ends isn’t new, but such resolutions have been on the rise in recent years. Shareholders…
Apex and ISS jointly launch new ESG reporting services | Institutional Asset Manager
Apex, the world’s fifth largest fund administrator, and ISS, a provider of end-to-end governance and responsible investment solutions have joined forces to deliver ESG reporting capabilities to asset managers worldwide…The reports will allow Apex clients to measure the ESG performance of each of their portfolio companies through accessing ISS’ Governance QualityScores, company carbon footprints, and…
