Our friends at the CEO-funded fake dark money front group the Main Street Investors Coalition (reminder — no connection to Main Street or investors and not a coalition) continues to be as clumsy as it is corrupt. When Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton handed a policy win to corporate executives this month, he…
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Comcast: How Many More Times Do We Have to Explain One Share One Vote?
Our concerns about Comcast go back a long way. Our predecessor company, The Corporate Library (now GMI Analyst, a part of MSCI), we gave Comcast and its board a rare F rating for catastrophically poor corporate governance. If there was a lower grade than F, we would have given it to them. And if we were still grading…
Why America’s CEOs Are Talking About Stakeholder Capitalism by Mark Roe – Project Syndicate
[T]wo deeper forces help to explain why the Business Roundtable felt that it needed to say something now. First, activist shareholders are making life uncomfortable for the boards and senior executives of America’s largest corporations. The Business Roundtable’s statement is thus in part a plea from CEOs for more autonomy vis-à-vis shareholders. In effect, the Roundtable’s…
Women Don’t Mean Business? Gender Penalty in Board Appointments | Academy of Management Proceedings
These troubling but not definitive findings suggest that the market is skeptical about female board members regardless of their credentials. We note that previous studies have shown that two or more female directors are necessary to make a difference. Using 14 years of panel data on U.S. firms, we show that the addition of a…
CBS Chief Will Get $100 Million Severance and Still Keep His Job – Bloomberg
CBS Corp. acting Chief Executive Officer Joe Ianniello is in line for a hefty haul when Viacom Inc. completes its proposed merger with the broadcast network. While he won’t get to lead the combined entity, he’ll collect $100 million severance and remain chief of CBS with a new contract entitling him to tens of millions…
Costco Will Report on Prison Labor – Corporate Governance
Jim McRitchie reports: Costco will report on prison labor in its supply chain, such as pajamas from China, making it if the first U.S. company to make a public commitment to disclose known instances. Many thanks to NorthStar Asset Management for negotiating the agreement. via Costco Will Report on Prison Labor – Corporate Governance
Capitalism Is a Blessing — IQ2US Debates
The IQ Squared Debate series has experts debate today’s the most complex and hotly contested topics. Coming: Is what we get from capitalism worth what we pay for it? We will post a recording of the debate as soon as it is available. Recent polls show that two out of three Americans support capitalism. But…
Commissioner Lee: Statement on Shareholder Rights
Commissioner Allison Herrren Lee expressed her objections to the Republican Commissioners’ proposed rule on proxy proposals and proxy advisors, starting with the core point that no one has documents any kind of actual problem. There is a common theme that unites the two proposals before us today: they both would operate to suppress the exercise…
Buybacks: The company says buy, but insiders sell – The Washington Post
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow is quoted in this Washington Post story about executives selling their stock into buybacks: Repurchases enrich executives several ways, says Nell Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge Advisers, which counsels investors on corporate governance issues. “It’s a triple dip,” Minow said, that works like this: Here’s how stock buybacks work and…
Michael W. Frerichs – Illinois State Treasurer: Raising The Bar on Investing
Illinois state treasurer Michael W. Frerichs is one of the most respected public pension fund fiduciaries in the country and we were delighted to see his thoughtful comments on ESG as an essential element in minimizing investment risk. Making Prudent Choices. Investing means making choices. For the investment officers at the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office,…
