Stilpon Nestor, always the voice of reason, has a vitally important assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the economy and what it means for boards as they manage risk. Sooner or later corporate boards and leaders will emerge from their domestic trenches to rebuild their company’s—and the world’s—economic future. And the future will…
Category: COVID-19
Business faces stern test on ESG amid calls to ‘build back better’ | Financial Times
Three months ago, Brian Chesky, chief executive of Airbnb, made a bold pledge: if he conducted an IPO, he would turn his business into a “stakeholder” company, serving employees and society as much as future shareholders. It initially seemed just a trendy promise. After all, many US companies have made similar pledges since the Business…
As coronavirus layoffs, furloughs mount, some CEOs are keeping pay, bonuses, salary, stock options | Fortune
Even CEOs are starting to get squeezed by the economic realities of this pandemic. But compared to their employees, a growing number of critics still say it’s not nearly enough. So far, top executives of many major U.S. corporations—including some at the very epicenter of the crisis—have mostly held on to their outsize pay packages…
Nell Minow on Compliance & Corporate Governance in the Time of COVID-19 [Podcast] – The Compliance and Ethics Blog
ValueEdge Advisors Vice Chair Nell Minow appeared on Adam Turteltaub’s podcast to talk about the challenges of COVID-19 and its economic impact for corporate compliance. Companies are struggling to survive and boards are stretched beyond belief. So how do you get the governing team to focus on compliance? According to Nell Minow — dubbed the…
The Insidious Vocabulary of CEO Compensation
As you can imagine, a lot of energy and creativity is going into figuring out how to make sure executives do not lose their bonuses because of COVID-19 economic uncertainty. We are watching this closely as it subverts the entire concept of incentive compensation if it is all upside and no downside. Incentive compensation is…
Media CEO Salaries Will Be Hard To Justify In A COVID-19 Economy – Deadline
“The proxies we are looking now at seem like a message from a time capsule. They don’t seem to have a lot of relevance,” says Nell Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge Advisors, a corporate governance advisory firm for institutional investors. “But I am very concerned about what’s happening now.” She’s focused on potentially “big grants…
Preparing for Post-Pandemic Corporate Activism
Pre-pandemic, activists found new acceptance among institutional investors as they focused on unlocking value, creating efficiencies, and operating in a global environment with a focus on corporate and social responsibility governance issues. In what might be seen as a direct response to this trend, in August 2019, a group of 181 chief executives signed a…
Multi-millionaire Trump donor is top recipient of funds intended for struggling small businesses – Popular Information
UPDATE: Following this investigation by Judd Legum, Bennett has pledged to return the funds. Across the country, thousands of small businesses — many on the verge of collapse — have not been able to obtain a forgivable loan from the Paycheck Protection Program. The initial $349 billion for the program ran out in a few…
The Secret Battle to Strip Your Coronavirus Rights – TYT.com
“We have your back,” Bank of America says in a new video about the coronavirus. “We’re in it together.” But while Bank of America and other companies present a supportive face, some are working behind your back to make it harder to seek justice for corporate wrongdoing related to the coronavirus. Corporate lobbyists — including…
$500 billion Fed aid program for corporations won’t require them to preserve jobs or limit CEO pay
A Federal Reserve program expected to begin within weeks will provide hundreds of billions in emergency aid to large American corporations without requiring them to save jobs or limit payments to executives and shareholders. Under the program, the central bank will buy up to $500 billion in bonds issued by large companies. The companies will…
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