It’s impossible to read a newspaper, magazine or blog, or watch the news without hearing about shareholder activism. It’s an industry unto itself with activist funds, attorneys who represent activists, activist defense lawyers, activist-focused investment bankers, activist conferences, activist newsletters, activist databases, and, of course, there are Messrs. Bebchuk and Lipton. As a former institutional […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. April 27, 2015 – Green America, a national nonprofit organization working to create a green economy, issued the following statement today in response to Chipotles announcement of removing GMOs from its foods: (more…)
The following PX14A6G filing on a shareholder proposal at Anadarko $APC by As You Sow might be of interest to readers. I’m too busy with my own proposals to make all the links work and to neaten up this post but you can find them in the original filing here. I suspect we will see many […]
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. They offer a comprehensive selection of merchandise, which include equine, livestock, pet and small animal products; hardware, truck, towing and tool products; seasonal products, including lawn and garden items, power equipment, gifts and toys; maintenance products for agricultural and rural use, and work/recreational clothing and […]
eBay Inc (EBAY), which enables commerce through three reportable segments: Marketplaces, Payments and Enterprise, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/1/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 4/26/2015. I voted with management 67% of the time and assigned eBay a proxy score of 67. […]
EMC Corporation (EMC), which develops, delivers, and supports information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure technologies, solutions, and services, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/30/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of three funds (I added CalSTRS) when I checked and voted on 4/26/2015. I voted with management 56% of the time and assigned […]
Kimberly Clark Corp (KMB), which manufactures and markets personal care, consumer tissue, and K-C professional products, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/30/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of four funds when I checked and voted on 4/24/2015. I voted with management 57% of the time and assigned Kimberly Clark a proxy […]
Fluor Corporation (FLR), which provides engineering, procurement, construction, fabrication and modularization, commissioning and maintenance, and project management services worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/30/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of one fund when I checked and voted on 4/23/2015. I voted with management 64% of the time and assigned Fluor […]
The Coca-Cola Co (KO), which primarly manufactures and distributes various nonalcoholic beverages, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/29/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of three funds when I checked and voted on 4/22/2015 (they now have more). I voted with management 58% of the time and assigned Coca-Cola a proxy score of […]
Citigroup Inc (C), which provides various financial products and services for consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/28/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of three funds when I checked and voted on 4/21/2015. I voted with management 48% of the time and assigned Citigroup a proxy score […]
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (BIO), which manufactures and supplies products and systems used to separate complex chemical and biological materials, as well as to identify, analyze, and purify their components for life science research, healthcare, analytical chemistry, and other markets, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/28/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote […]
It was another great jointly sponsored event at Stanford Law on April 16, 2015 – this one on runaway management teams. As noted in the promo for the event: Board membership is difficult enough these days, even when the relationship between board and management functions well. But when faced with runaway management teams, the situation […]
IBM (International Business Machines Corp.), which provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/28/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of four funds when I checked and voted on 4/21/2015. I voted with management 50% of the time and assigned IBM a proxy score of 50. […]
Boeing Co (BA), which designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and launch systems and services worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/27/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of one fund when I checked and voted on 4/21/2015. I voted with […]
Kellogg Company (K), which manufactures and markets ready-to-eat cereal and convenience foods, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/24/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of no funds when I checked and voted on 4/20/2015. I also see that CalSTRS votes still are not getting picked up but they voted with management […]
General Electric Company (GE), which operates as an infrastructure and financial services company worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/22/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of two funds when I checked and voted on 4/15/2015. I voted with management 57% of the time and assigned General Electric a proxy score […]
In an unscripted moment at a Clinton Foundation event in Miami, Chelsea mentioned a study that shows there are more men named John, Robert, William or James on corporate boards than there are total women corporate directors. Upon hearing that statistic, Hillary, who was on stage with Chelsea, joked, “sounds like we need to change our names!” […]
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the health care field worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/23/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of three funds when I checked and voted on 4/17/2015. I voted with management 44% of the time and assigned Johnson […]
The second annual Kirkland & Ellis Law Forum at Stanford’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance, brought together a leading academic, legal practitioners, and an investment banker to discuss recent trends in activist investing and their impact on the M&A market. What follows are my cryptic notes. The Center will probably post the video at some […]
NCR Corporation (NCR), which provides solutions and services that enable businesses to connect, interact, and transact with their customers worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/22/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of one fund when I checked and voted on 4/14/2015. I voted with management 50% of the time and assigned […]
I recently received an email from the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund urging a vote in favor (“FOR”) their shareholder resolutions asking Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), and Morgan Stanley (MS) to issue a report to shareholders disclosing the dollar amounts of government service golden parachutes – pay their senior executives will receive if they voluntarily […]
FirstMerit (FMER) included a management proposal for proxy access in their annual meeting agenda and excluded a shareholder proposal on the same topic from the Firefighter’s Pension System of the City of Kansas City with a higher cap on nominees. See Proposal #4 Proxy Access. What was even more startling in the ‘news’ from an […]
#CartoonSunday is so popular among my friends in corporate governance (#corpgov) on Twitter that I thought I’d jump the gun and do a post on Animated Friday and corporate governance. Yes, I know, the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon I posted to the right has little to do with corporate governance… but it sure is cute. The […]
The Status of Proxy Access 2015: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” – Winston Churchill This post is in response to a LinkedIn piece by Anthony Goodman of Tapestry Networks regarding the status of proxy access post […]
Philanthropic, Foundation Worlds Expected to Join Investors and Investment Professionals Engaged in Sustainable, Responsible, Impact (SRI) Investing; Early-Bird Registration Now Open. Now in its 26th year, the SRI Conference will be November 3-5, 2015 at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado and will probably be the largest ever. Leaders in the philanthropy and foundation worlds […]
Investing in America began with bankruptcy and early lessons in corporate governance. In the early 17th century, the hottest stock in England was the Virginia Company of London. Instead of adding to their fame and fortune, wealthy investors gained several hard insights from this first company to go bust on American soil. Fame Is Not […]
Ralph Ward brings nonprofit boards into focus. The nonprofit sector — education, charities, parastatals, co-ops, NGO’s, etc. — makes up a huge share of the world economy, and is a huge player in civil society. Yet, the board and governance tools needed to shape and monitor this nonprofit galaxy for too long have been under-studied […]
I think most Americans have a very limited attention span when it comes to investing, the SEC and especially corporate governance. When I came across SECDisclose.org earlier this week, I was delighted with a series of videos they have uploaded on dark money and with their byline: Because the S.E.C. shouldn’t stand for “S-E-C-RET.” In a few paragraphs below lifted […]
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (BRCD), which provides storage area networking (SAN) and Internet protocol networking solutions, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/7/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 4/2/2015. I voted with management 43% of the time and assigned Brocade Communications a […]
On February 27, 2015 Vanguard sent out an important letter to many boards of directors of publicly traded companies. The letter, signed by Vanguard’s Chairman and CEO, exhorts directors to follow best practices to ensure that corporate resources are stewarded effectively. But what happens to those boards of directors who are stubbornly entrenched? (more…)