The House Oversight Committee released two major reports Wednesday that expose the internal strategies used by drug makers Celgene and Teva to repeatedly jack up the price of their blockbuster drugs revlimid and copaxone. The reports, which are the culmination of an 18-month investigation based on internal company documents, outline in vivid detail how both…
Boohoo Group PLC vows to rectify failings but margins remain a question
Boohoo Group PLC (LON:BOO) has vowed to address its corporate governance responsibilities after an independent review confirmed poor working conditions and low rates of pay in its supply chain. The report found that Its senior directors “knew for a fact that there were very serious issues about the treatment of factory workers in Leicester and…
Antitrust law: The next stakeholder capitalism battleground? | Fortune
[S]ome reformers have called to replace the “consumer welfare” standard with “effective competition,” using antitrust to “protect” market participants throughout the supply chain, including workers. Others propose that enforcers seek “stakeholder remedies,” such as changes to corporate governance, as part of antitrust enforcement. Need to clear that merger? Fork over a few board seats to…
Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund Implicated in Possible Trump Corruption Charge
Just as Qatar wanted to reverse US policy its sovereign wealth fund made a mysterious lease agreement with an entity that funnels the money to President Donald Trump, despite his promise, just before he was sworn in as President, that he would not benefit in any way from non-US payments to his companies. And after…
Activist Trian Fund Management Takes Stake in Comcast – WSJ
Tough when the insiders have controlling shares, but then Trian is pretty savvy. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Trian Fund Management LP, a hedge fund known for pushing big companies to make operational and other changes, has launched an activist campaign against Comcast Corp. in a bet that the cable-TV and…
Darden Restaurants — As You Sow
At As You Sow, Roseanna Weaver points out that the Darden board found a way to give the CEO a bonus even though COVID-19 has meant decreased revenues for the restaurant businesses. The Compensation Committee “approved modifications to the performance goals for fiscal 2020 annual incentives” because of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lowering…
50 Years of Blaming Milton Friedman. Here’s Another Idea–Binyamin Appelbaum
The 50th anniversary of the publication of Milton Friedman’s essay advocating profit (within the law) as the primary purpose of the corporation in the New York Times was observed with reactions and responses from a range of experts. In our view, most missed the point. Unless otherwise explicitly noted and disclosed to investors in the…
Proposed amendments to shareholder proposal rules—bruised but unbowed? – Cooley PubCo
The SEC may have postponed until next week the open meeting originally scheduled for yesterday to consider adoption of revisions to the shareholder proposal rules, but Reuters has the inside scoop on the outcome of at least one controversial provision: according to Reuters, say farewell to the “momentum” provision. The expected deletion of the provision,…
Our Audit of EY’s Apology for Wirecard Finds it Inadequate
Note use of passive voice and that faintest of excuses: it was really, really hard. Not acceptable when the auditor’s primary job is to verify the company’s accounts, and that included detecting fraud. “Many people believe that the fraud at Wirecard should have been detected earlier and we fully understand that,” Mr Di Sibio wrote…
Even the Threat of a Tougher Rule on Financial Advice Has Helped Investors – The New York Times
A battle over exactly how investors should be treated when they get financial advice has been underway for years. The Obama administration pushed for stricter investor protections, while the Trump administration has been putting looser rules into effect. But here’s the thing: The tougher Obama rules, which were never fully put into effect, have already…
