Broadridge 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held on Thursday, November 19, 2020, at 9:00 AM Eastern. Attend meeting online, vote your shares, and submit questions during the meeting by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/BR20. You need the Control Number provided to you (usually by your broker or bank) to join the meeting. To enhance long-term value: […]
Election Fraud Attempt by Citigroup
Election fraud attempt by Citigroup points to the need for more participation in decision-making by employees to ensure ethical conduct. Citigroup tries to cheat by telling us we need to meet SEC rules today for the 2021 AGM that don’t become effective until 2022. With a market cap of more than $82B, don’t tell me […]
Marrone Bio Last Chance to Vote
Marrone Bio Last Chance to Vote Marrone Bio Innovation’s AGM is tomorrow, October 29th at 9 AM Pacific. Unless you attend the meeting and vote quickly, today is your last chance. See my voting recommendations. I (James McRitchie) will present my proposal. It appears on the proxy as follows: #5 “To Consider a stockholder proposal […]
ESG Options in DC Plans
ESG Options in DC Plans? Morningstar can help you find them. President Trump’s Department of Labor aims to limit ESG investing in retirement plans, although even law firms recognize the need for ESG research. Fund flows and investor interest remained high according to Morningstar’s research, even amid the year’s earlier market downturn. Insights from Morningstar discuss how the Presidential […]
Marrone Bio Innovations 2020: VOTE!
Marrone Bio Innovations 2020. October 29, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time. The Annual Meeting will be a virtual meeting of stockholders conducted online by live audio webcast. Attend the virtual meeting, vote your shares electronically and submit questions during the meeting by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/MBII2020, using your control number. To enhance long-term value: Withhold your […]
MBII Notice of Exempt Solicitation
MBII Notice of Exempt Solicitation Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. (MBII) Shareholder Alert Voluntary submission by James McRitchie, 9295 Yorkship Ct., Elk Grove, CA 95758 Shareholder since 2016 Please vote for Proposal No. 5 before October 28th Stockholder Proposal: Phase in Simple Majority Vote The proposal’s description in the Proxy Voting Instructions Form (VIF) violates SEC Rule 14a-4(a)(3) Rule […]
Conservative TV and Corporate Social Responsibility
Conservative TV and Corporate Social Responsibility. Again, public opinion is the driver. A 2017 Pew Research Center study found that 37% of Americans get their news from local television news. Only 28% get their news from cable TV, while 26% tune into network news. Sinclair Broadcasting expands by acquiring those trusted local TV stations and […]
Political Disclosure Up
Political disclosure up at large publicly held U.S. companies. That’s the conclusion of The Center for Political Accountability (CPA) and The Wharton School’s Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research. Adoption of sound transparency and oversight practices for their political spending is part of an accelerating trend, according to a new scorecard. Investors want to hold […]
Climate Risk Hypocrites
Climate Risk Hypocrites exposed by Morningstar’s Jackie Cook and Tom Lauricella. The authors found support for climate-related proposals rose at Fidelity, State Street Global Advisors, and Vanguard. Support fell at American Funds and BlackRock. (Top Fund Companies’ Climate Change Votes: A Very Mixed Picture) (more…)
BlackRock 8-K Positive CorpGov
BlackRock 8-K of October 6th contains good news for shareholders. I frequently complain about BlackRock because their actions, especially proxy voting, are out of sync with their positive ESG statements. (see BlackRock Action Update) However, it is also appropriate to give their board credit for proposing important corporate governance reforms to be voted at the […]
Illegal Marrone Bio Vote Suppression
Illegal Marrone Bio proxy threatens not only their own shareholders but those of all companies. If Marrone Bio gets away with it, so can others. What can we do when a company violates the law and the SEC fails to act? We could go to court but that’s expensive. Instead, let’s mobilize. If enough cry foul, […]
Faking It
Faking It. Remember those allegedly fake letters from retail investors supporting the US SEC’s controversial proxy advisor rule? [And the rules to “modernize” shareholder proposals, SEC Trampled Shareholder Rights.] Global Proxy Watch [GPW] remembers. They published the following yesterday [reproduced below with a little reformatting and my two cents in brackets]: (more…)
ReproReceipts Campaign by UltraViolet
#ReproReceipts Campaign by UltraViolet highlights hypocrisy and Calls for Accountability at AT&T, Coca Cola, Disney, Nike, Procter & Gamble, and Uber
SEC Trampled Shareholder Rights
SEC Trampled Rights. September 23 was a bad day for shareholders, society, and the environment. It was an action typical of the Trump Administration, where political appointees work counter to the missions of regulatory bodies. The only significant “support” for the amendments from shareholders came from a few fake letters, which Chairman Clayton read into […]
Form 13F Reporting: Comment on Proposed SEC Rules
Form 13F reporting is another obscure SEC requirement. Most investors know nothing about it. However, following the money is important. Add your voice to thousands sounding the alarm about proposed changes. Form 13F is how funds report to the SEC what they have invested in. Like many rules proposed during the Trump Administration, these are […]
Political Party of Funds
Political Party of Funds No, you can’t find that information on CorpGov.net. But, you can at YourStake. Go there now to find out how much money the companies in your mutual fund donate to Democratic and Republican candidates. (more…)
You Missed This: Research in Sustainable Finance
“You Missed This” will distill this season’s sustainable finance papers. We highlight key findings and trends, including important recent work that might have been overlooked. One digestible event for your research needs. (more…)
#MICUS 2020 Comparing Sustainable Funds
#MICUS 2020, the Morningstar conference, had so much to write about during day 1 that it may take me a month or so to go through it. Register for day 2 if you missed the first day. I just heard Larry Fink, of BlackRock. For someone heading the largest pile of investment money in the […]
Tesla 2020 Simple Majority Vote
Tesla 2020 annual meeting is 9/22/2020 at 1:30PM Pacific in Mountain View. It will be a hybrid meeting. To enhance long-term value: Vote AGAINST Denholm, Pay, Auditor, Paid Ads. Vote FOR Simple Majority Vote, and reports on Arbitration, and Human Rights. See list of all virtual-only meetings maintained by ISS. View Tesla Investor Briefing. (more…)
FedEx 2020 Written Consent Needed
FedEx 2020 annual meeting is 9/21/2020 at 10:00AM Pacific. To attend the annual meeting of stockholders at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/FDX2020, you must enter the control number on your proxy card, voting instruction form or Notice of Internet Availability. To enhance long-term value: Vote AGAINST Jackson, Schwab, Steiner, Walsh, Griffith, Pay, Auditor. Vote FOR all shareholder proposals. See list of all […]
Tesla Investor Briefing 2020 AGM
Tesla Investor Briefing 2020 AGM. Join Investor Advocates for Social Justice, CorpGov.net, Nia Impact Capital, and Whistle Stop Capital. When: Friday, September 18, 2020 at 12 EST/9am PST. Investor briefing for Tesla shareholders and media in advance of the upcoming Tesla AGM (September 22nd). The webinar will provide an overview of three of the shareholder […]
Boulder Letter Repealed: Comments Needed
The “Boulder Letter” explained why opting into a state statute limiting a shareholder’s ability to vote all their shares violates the Investment Company Act. SEC Staff recently repealed the Letter. Consistent with other recent actions, this dilutes the rights of shareholders. In conclusion, another democratic-free zone was provided to entrenched managers and boards. If you […]
Recovery AND Broader Ownership: Build Back Better
Recovery AND Broader Ownership: Take Action Economic recovery AND broader ownership can be ours. We need a nation of employees who more fully share and participate in a healthy recovery through ownership. Support legislation introduced by Republicans and Democrats: S 4236, [Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)] inject working capital into American […]
Trump Celebrates Labor Day
Trump celebrates labor day. Many who actually labor cringe at his repulsive words and actions. There are far instances too many to mention. Below are a few that are top of mind. (more…)
Chat Rooms Missing at Shareholder Meetings
Chat Rooms are the key missing ingredient at virtual shareholder meetings. Virtual-only shareholder meetings increased dramatically (from 286 in 2019 to 2,200 so far in 2020) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Chat rooms before and after meetings would allow shareholders to interact informally with each other and with corporate representatives, as they do at in-person […]
Corporate Accountability: Classes Starting Soon
Corporate Accountability: Restoring the Balance Corporate Accountability Facilitator: James McRitchie, Shareholder Advocate Online Fridays, Oct 16, 23, 30; 12 to 1:30 pm Classes are held using Zoom. (more…)
Virtual Shareholder Meetings: Zoom Seminar
How Shifting from In-Person to Virtual Shareholder Meetings Affects Shareholders’ Voice, Miriam Schwartz-Ziv‘s new paper recently posted on SSRN will be the subject of a virtual seminar held on Wednesday, Sept 2nd, from 11 AM-noon EDT. See the link below. (more…)
ESG Rulemaking by DOL
ESG Rulemaking by DOL – comments are in. Several investor organizations and financial industry firms released an analysis of the more than 8,700 public comments on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rulemaking on the consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations in ERISA-governed retirement plans. There is overwhelming opposition to the “Financial Factors […]
Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein (podcast)
Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein is a podcast of in-depth interviews with leading corporate governance experts. So please listen to his latest: James McRitchie: The Gadfly Seeking Corporate Change Via Shareholder Proposals. (more…)
The Gadfly with Gabriel Malek (podcast)
The Gadfly With Gabriel Malek (click to listen) This is my current favorite of the #corpgov #ESG podcasts. I am partial to the name gadfly, since I am often called one myself. Likewise, Malek is trying to talk with the same audience I am hoping to reach. Sure, we both want environmental, social, and governance […]