Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended shareholders of Google-parent Alphabet Inc to vote “against” the company’s proposed executive pay at its annual meet in June, according to a report seen by Reuters on Thursday. “The compensation committee has demonstrated poor stewardship of pay programs as evidenced by recurring concerns of outsized awards that are not…
Tag: proxy advisory firms
A Proposal Based on The Wrong Assumptions: “Stop, Look and Listen” for Proxy Advisors
The lawyers from law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs overlook three key points with their self-categorized “modest proposal” on the SEC’s proxy advisory rule. Their proposal is based a completely faulty characterization of the law, the facts, and the obvious and most effective policy. Oh, and they also forget to mention that their client…
VEA’s Second Supplemental Comment to the SEC on Proposed Proxy Advisor Rule
A second supplemental comment, reflecting new information and responses to some of the other comments: 1. Further Evidence that Corporate Claims of Zombie “Robo-Voting” are Bunk: We have noted previously that assertions that fund managers “robo-vote” are unsupported and contrary to the data. The findings of a new study by Lily Tomson of ShareAction prove…
Further Evidence that Corporate Claims of Zombie “Robo-Voting” are Bunk
The findings of a new study by Lily Tomson of ShareAction prove that the claims of the Chamber of Commerce and its various sock puppets are complete bunk. Finding 1: ISS, the largest proxy advisor, is more supportive of environmental and social resolutions than the largest asset managers. The majority of asset managers in our…
SEC’s New Rules Undermine Shareholder Rights – Bloomberg
Yale’s Jonathan Macey on the SEC’s proposed rule on proxy advisors: It is indeed strange that the SEC, whose mission is to protect investors, is putting its thumb forcefully on the scale in favor of companies and against investors. Its proposal would land a one-two punch against corporate democracy and freedom of speech. Not only…
SEC Comment Word Cloud
Columbia Law School’s Blue Sky Blog has mapped the comments on the SEC’s proposed rules on proxy advisors. This post offers a helpful tool, in the form of a computational textual analysis of the submitted comments to the proposed rule change. While by no means a substitute for deeper analysis, this type of computational analysis…
Senators Tell the SEC to Withdraw the Proposed Proxy Rules
Senators Richard Durbin, Sherrod Brown, Brian Schatz, and Jack Reed have written to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton to object to the proposed rules on proxy advisors and proxy proposals in the strongest terms. The full letter is below. An excerpt: The SEC fails to make a credible argument that errors in proxy advisor reports justify…
Sparks Fly in Comments on SEC Proxy Advisor Proposals — Bloomberg
The notice and comment process for SEC rulemaking typically generates turgid prose and repetitive argument. That is definitely not the case with regard to the comments on the SEC’s proxy advisor proposals. Corporate governance expert Nell Minow stated that the rules as proposed would “undermine a crucial element of accountability to shareholders by severely hampering…
SEC’s new proxy adviser regulations will harm real Main Street investors
Lorraine Kelly of ISS makes a strong statement in opposition to the SEC’s proposed restrictions on proxy advisors. To be clear, this proposal is not being driven by institutional investors that hire proxy advisers; our customers are not asking for the government to intervene in the crafting and publication of corporate governance research and recommendations….
More Baloney from Another Chamber of Commerce Sock Puppet
There’a another comment on the SEC’s proxy advisory proposal from a Chamber of Commerce funded dark money front group. This one was previously focused only on getting corporate-friendly lawyers appointed to the court (they actually argued that it was okay to have all white male nominees because the selections were based on qualifications, ignoring the…
