Two of the wisest, most experienced, and most influential people in corporate governance, Ira Millstein and former Chief Justice and Chancellor of Delaware, Leo E. Strine, Jr. had a conversation moderated by Columbia professor Eric Talley. It is published in the current issue of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Journal. Some highlights: On what…
Category: corporate governance
Fitch: Increased Impact of Governance on Credit Ratings
Fitch Ratings expects idiosyncratic governance weaknesses to weigh on ratings more often than previously as the tolerance of governance failures from a wide range of stakeholders (e.g. authorities, investors, creditors, customers and employees) declines. It is likely that investors’ growing focus on ESG topics and better ESG-related disclosure will mean that governance failures will have…
Dimon Shareholder Letter: JP Morgan Chase
From the JP Morgan Chase shareholder letter [emphasis added]: We have consistently described to you, our shareholders, the basic principles and strategies we use to build this company — from maintaining a fortress balance sheet, constantly investing, nurturing talent, fully satisfying regulators, and continually improving risk, governance and controls to serving customers and clients while…
Approach Hyperbolic Claims About the New Corporate Governance Data with Skepticism
The authors of this new corporate governance data set, Jens Frankenreiter, Cathy Hwang, Yaron Nili, and Eric L. Talley, should not be blamed for the hyperbolic claims. The University of Virginia’s story about it is. Their headline: Why Everything We Thought We Knew About Corporate Governance Is Wrong. The paper is titled more modestly and…
Aid to corporations with dependent workers – Backbencher
Essential reading from Tim Noah on why welfare to full-time workers is really welfare to corporations and overpaid executives. The ingenuity of American corporations in finding ways not to reward work begins with keeping them the hell off the payroll. As Brandeis economist David Weil observed in his book The Fissured Workplace, the much-discussed “gig…
CII Spring Conference 2021–Highlights
From VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow: I remember taking the escalator down to the CII conference last year and seeing boxes of hand sanitizer and antiseptic wipes. People greeted each other with elbow taps and made grim jokes about this new virus we were hearing about. A week later, everything shut down. So, this year’s…
Ranking Digital Rights
The RDR Index evaluated 26 of the world’s most powerful digital platforms and telecommunications companies on their disclosed policies and practices affecting people’s rights to freedom of expression and privacy. Here’s the ranking sorted by governance.
Beyond Covid: risk and resilience among governance trends for 2021
VEA Vice Chair is quoted in a Board Agenda story about governance priorities in the Biden administration and new 50-50 Senate: If there is one country likely to see an expansion of corporate governance activity in 2021 it is the US, with the upcoming inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The Trump years saw…
Kingspan directors cashed in £6m of shares before airing of Grenfell claims | Grenfell Tower inquiry | The Guardian
Three directors of Kingspan, the company that made combustible insulation used on Grenfell Tower, cashed in more than £6m in share options before allegations against the business were aired at the public inquiry into the disaster. Gene Murtagh, the chief executive of the Ireland-based company that made the Kooltherm-K15 foam boards used on the council…
Warren, Carper, Baldwin, and Warner Form Corporate Governance Working Group to Fundamentally Reform the 21st Century American Economy
United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) announced the formation of a working group to develop legislative proposals and conduct oversight focused on fundamentally reforming corporate governance. Over the last 30 years, corporate profits have surged while the portion shared with labor has declined, resulting in…
