BlackRock, the world’s biggest investor, has lost an estimated $90bn over the last decade by ignoring the serious financial risk of investing in fossil fuel companies, according to economists.A report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has found that BlackRock has eroded the value of its $6.5tn funds by betting on…
Category: blackrock
Executive Compensation: The Role of Public Company Shareholders
Barbara Novick of BlackRock, Inc., one of the largest and most powerful institutional investors in the world, wrote about CEO pay and the role of shareholders. Of particular note is her assessment of proxy advisors, making it clear that proxy advisor clients appreciate the analysis and recommendations but have their own views. Proxy advisors are…
A Catch 22 for Asset Managers
Jasmin Sethi writes about the impact of concentrated voting power and calls for better disclosure of the exercise of ownership rights: The big three—BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard—are victims of their own size. As they have increased their assets under management, they have also increased their voting power as typically they vote the shares for…
Index Funds May be Able to Vote 41% of S&P 500 Shares in the Future | Corporate & Securities Law Blog – JDSupra
Research by Lucian A. Bebchuk, Harvard Law School, and Scott Hirst, Boston University School of Law, indicates three key index fund advisors could cast 34% of votes in the next decade at S&P 500 companies, and about 41% of votes at S&P 500 companies in two decades. The key index fund managers are BlackRock, Vanguard,…
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…
Goldman Board Goes On Female Hiring Spree, Leaves Old-Boy Era Behind – TheStreet
The boardroom of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is finally catching up with the #metoo era.The Wall Street firm, historically man-heavy in its executive suite as well as among directors, said Thursday it had named former U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Jan Tighe to its board. Her appointment boosts the share of women on the board to four out of…
BlackRock joins with Wespath to widen its low-carbon strategy | Financial Times
BlackRock has teamed up with a US client to explore fresh ways to invest in the low-carbon economy as fund management groups hunt for opportunities that arise from the shift to sustainable energy use.<P><P>The world’s largest asset manager with $6.3tn of assets, and Wespath Benefits and Investments, which manages $23bn on behalf of the United…
Shareholders Bring Gun Safety Issues to the Boardroom
The post-Parkland move to bring the United States to the sensible gun safety rules adopted by other countries has now moved from protests and politics to where the money is, the corporate executives and directors who run the companies that manufacture and sell guns and determine the millions of dollars the NRA spends on political…
How Long-Term Investors Influence Corporate Behavior
Annotated opening paragraphs of an article on the impact of long-term investors in the MITSloan journal: In his recent letter to CEOs, Larry Fink, CEO and chairman of the mutual fund giant BlackRock Inc., based in New York City, repeated his call for organizations to share their strategies for creating sustainable value. He also added…
Blackrock: Here is What We Want to Know about Human Capital Management from Directors and Executives
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink wrote: Companies must ask themselves: What role do we play in the community? Are we working to create a diverse workforce? Are we adapting to technological change? Are we providing the retraining and opportunities that our employees and our business will need to adjust to an increasingly automated world? Now we…
