Goldman Sachs Group Inc., trying to show it is responsive to public pressure over its pay, said Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein would get a $9 million bonus for 2009, a fraction of the $68.5 million payout he got in 2007. (Goldman Bows on CEO Pay, WSJ, 2/6/10) My heart bleeds for him but I still haven’t earned a dime from my 2007 investment in Goldman, a company where management certainly dominates over shareowners. We did win big last year on my “simple majority vote,” with 75% of shares voted thanks to efforts by John Chevedden, Claire Davis of the Edward G Hazen Foundation, and Timothy Smith of Walden Asset Management. If we can democratize Goldman, we can democratize anything.
Ceres is seeking a director of investor programs to lead in their work with institutional investors and asset managers on climate change and other sustainability issues. More information about the position and how to apply. This is a great opportunity to influence and work with more than 80 institutional investors with over $8 trillion in assets.
John Chevedden’s proposal for a majority voting standard for directors won 51% at Oshkosh (OSK) on Feb. 4th, even after OSK said it was not needed because they had already adopted majority vote requirements (in a lesser form).
Most of the companies which excel in the employee satisfaction measures used by Fortune to determine their “100 Best Companies to Work For” are privately held. Among those that are public,company founders or families have a disproportionate ownership stake. Maybe one key is that these firms feel less pressure to meet quarterly expectations and can take more of a long-term perspective. (Governance at Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, The Corporate Library Blog, 2/5/10)
Download a free Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Research Starter Kit for Investment Risk Management from The Corporate Library. The Financial Crisis is moving such assessments from the vanguard few to a part of normal fiduciary duty. Don’t get left behind.
SEC gets governance reforms as part of BofA settlement. As Broc Romanek notes, “governance by gunpoint” settlements have typically been driven by judges over the past decade, where institutional investor are plaintiffs. Will this be a new trend for the SEC? (The SEC Enforcement Division’s Use of Governance Reforms: Something New?, theCorporateCounsel.net, 2/5/10)
From the member area of theCorporateCounsel.net, “Can you get attorney’s fees for causing a company to add disclosures to its proxy materials? In this case – Pipefitters Local DB v. Oakley – the California Court of Appeal said ‘no.'” However, plaintiff’s counsel (Coughlin Stoia et al.) appears to have done a sloppy job. “The amended complaint copied identically worded paragraphs from previous complaints and even included the name of one of the defendants in the those other suits.” More importantly, the implication is that you might get attorney’s fees, if done right. (Suing for Attorney Fees: Causing Company to Add Proxy Disclosure, 2/4/10)
Investment Officer II opening at CalSTRS. One of the benefits; parking is only $28/mo. Great place to work.
As the debate about the rights of shareholders to appoint their own nominees to US boards continues, the PROXY Governance (PGI) Hybrid Boards study, sponsored by the IRRC Institute, is appearing with increasing frequency in shareholder comment letters and other governance analyses regarding the SEC’s proposed proxy access rules. The study found that total shareholder returns at ongoing companies with hybrid boards were 19.1% – 16.6 percentage points better than peers. (Proxy access – hybrid boards perform for shareholders, Manifest, 2/5/10)
The Altman Group’s 2/5/10 newsletter contains informative interviews with Charles Elson, which includes a discussion of the adoption of a reimbursement bylaw, and
a guest commentary from Robert Lamm, which provides a roundup of information for the 2010 and recommended action by boards.
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