We love this analysis by The Visual Capitalist of the most interconnected boards: 3M (7 connections)The 3M board has 12 members on it, including people like the retired CEOs of Kroger and UPS, and the current CFO of Microsoft.As for board members in common, there are seven people on 3M’s board that have a connection…
JD CEO’s arrest steps on governance landmine – Breakingviews
Emphasis added to this story about a “governance landmine” that illustrates the problem with governance structure that is overweighted in favor of the CEO. JD.com shareholders just got an abrupt reminder about their investment. Richard Liu, the founder and chief executive of the $45 billion Chinese e-commerce company, was arrested in the United States for alleged…
Main Street Investors: Now They’re Just Desperate (Are There Too Few IPOs?)
The Main Street Investors Coalition can no longer argue that they have any connection to Main Street or investors as we have repeatedly made clear in articles, news stories, blog posts, and responses to their tweets, that they are a fake dark money front group funded by corporations, including the National Association of Manufacturers, and…
California Bill Pushes Board Diversity
Yesterday, the California Assembly passed Senate Bill 826, which requires that companies headquartered in the state which are traded on a major stock exchange have women on their boards. If the bill is signed by Governor Brown, companies with their principal executive offices located in California will face monetary penalties if they do not have…
Why we’re all impact investors now | Chicago Booth Review
For nearly 50 years, many have been guided by the idea, laid out most famously by Milton Friedman, that the most appropriate way to create social change is to give profits to investors, and taxes to the government, and use that money to make an impact. For just as long, other investors have argued in…
Critique of Warren Proposal on Corporate Accountability
Denise Kuprionis analyzes Senator Warren’s proposal for federal charters of large corporations on the Conference Board corporate governance blog. She finds a number of its provisions are already covered or counterproductive. An excerpt: Perhaps a better answer than the ACA is to better promote benefit corporations as an option for companies. Then to determine and…
Fidelity Votes No on GE Pay
Some Fidelity Investments funds voted this spring to oppose the compensation received by General Electric Co. CEO John Flannery and other top GE executives, according to regulatory filings published last week…. Fidelity was in the minority on the pay question. Among GE shareholders, “yes” votes outnumbered “no” votes by a more than 10-to-1 margin. Boston…
California Moves to Mandate Female Board Directors – WSJ
California legislators on Wednesday passed a bill that requires major companies based in the state to put female directors on their boards.If the bill is signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, publicly traded companies based in the state will need to have at least one woman on their boards by the end…
Walden Asset Management and CalSTRs Ask NAM Members Why They Support Main Street Investors Coalition
Walden Asset Management released this statement today: Investors led by Walden Asset Management and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) called on 45 companies sitting on the Executive Committee and Board of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to end the trade association’s attacks on shareholders. The investors’ letter asks the companies to distance…
Buybacks: Short-term Boost vs. Long-Term Shareholder Value — As You Sow
We highly recommend this excellent report from As You Sow on buybacks. We share their concern about this poorly timed diversion of corporate assets for short-term gains. An excerpt below (emphasis ours): When a company has too much cash its executives and directors puzzle the question: What should we do with the money? Should we…
