Governance Fundamentals: Understanding Your Company’s Mechanics and Benchmarking. That was the title of the final spring 2019 SVDX/Rock Center program at Stanford Law on April 18. My cryptic notes below. (more…)
Tag Archives | activist
William Steiner, Shareholder Activist
William Steiner recently became the most experienced shareholder activist alive to win majority votes for shareholder proposals at public companies. A few months ago, he celebrated 40 years of shareholder activism with an overwhelming victory at Haemonetics Corporation (HAE). The following is based on an interview with Mr. Steiner by his son, Kenneth Steiner, who […]
Bernard S. Sharfman: Speaking Availability
Following publication of two out of three planed posts on recent research (part 1 and part 2), the following was received from Bernard S. Sharfman concerning his availability as a speaker, complete with a PowerPoint Presentation of his most recent paper. Since I believe his article and ideas deserve wide circulation, I reproduce his note below. […]
Turning Corporate Governance Over to Idiots
The Deal Professor, Steven Davidoff Solomon, recently discussed voting rules aimed at fostering “long-termism” in his post, France Answers Hostile Bids With the Two-Vote Share. While less damaging than dual-class shares issued at the IPO stage that continue ad infinitum, importing such a scheme to the United States would reinforce the behavior of idiots. (more…)
Who Says Activist Investors Have Struck Out?
The passing US proxy season made lots of business headlines as the most turbulent ever (which I’ve found happens every year). But 2015 was still notable for the flood of activist initiatives targeting company boards of directors. Activists sought “no” votes on directors who set executive pay, or said no to stock buyback, dividend, or […]
Activist Investing Trends & Impact on the M&A Market
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 […]
Directors Forum 2015: Part 3
Disclaimer: I’m sharing a few notes from Directors Forum 2015 held at San Diego University beginning 2/25/2015 and ending 2/27/2015. The Forum is held under the Chatham House Rule, so you won’t read any juicy tidbits here. However, I do hope to give readers some flavor of the topics discussed and a little on the general range […]
Yvan Allaire: Shareholder Activism & Long-Term Value
In case you missed it last weekend, Donna Dabney, Executive Director of the Governance Center at The Conference Board posted this November 14th presentation by Dr. Yvan Allaire presented at the Annual Meeting of The Conference Board Governance Center. His talk was titled Do activist interventions create long term shareholder value? Allaire reviews a lot of studies and […]
13D Activist Fund
According to a recent press release, 13D Activist Fund (DDDIX), an event-driven mutual fund focused on 13D filings, was named “Category King” by the Wall Street Journal for the one year period ending July 31, 2014. The Category King recognizes the top 10 performing funds in each equity category for one-year performance, based on total returns. The […]
Quick Bites on CorpGov
Don’t miss the following great reads: Eleanor Bloxham, CEO of The Value Alliance Activist shareholders’ top priorities for 2014. A must read for directors and shareowners alike. Here’s the first paragraph. Many of us free ride on actions taken by active, long-term shareholders. These unsung heroes goad managers and boards to reach better decisions, make available […]
Using Sharegate: The Next Great Shareholder Communications Platform
One way to use Sharegate is to announce your proxy votes. Far too many retail shareowners just trash their proxies instead of using them. A common misconception is that shareowners should take the Wall Street Walk and sell if they are displeased with any aspect of a company they own. That is like saying you should […]
Corporate Governance: the Focus for a New Type of Activist Investor
Guest post from Josh Black, Financial Journalist for Activist Insight Ltd., which “aims to provide the most comprehensive global information source on activist investment.” Traditional activists were essentially value investors, but that profile might be changing. Carl Icahn has long championed the interests of shareholders. Yet even many who had watched him for years were surprised by […]
John Chevedden: "Economy Class" Investor Activist
Video Friday: Who's Winning the War on Corporate Governance (and should you care)?
Lecture given by Chad L. Norton, Vice President, Fund Business Management Group of Capital Research and Management Company at Banta Center for Business, Ethics and Society, University of Redlands. Mr. Norton previously served as corporate secretary of The New Economy Fund and SMALLCAP World Fund, Inc., two of Capital’s retail mutual funds, as well as American Funds Insurance Series, […]
Google Insiders Foil Chevedden's Latest Attempt to End Dual-Class Voting
Activist, John Chevedden pushed for Google to change its capital structure to give all shares an equal vote. Most of us own Class A stock with one vote per share. But Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with Chairman Eric Schmidt, control about 64% of the votes through Class B stock with 10 […]
Video Friday: "Say on Directors iPay" @ Apple
My say on director pay will be on the Apple proxy (embedded links added): 6 – Shareholder Say on Director Pay Resolved: Shareholders request that our Board of Directors adopt a policy that provides shareholders the opportunity, at each annual meeting, to vote on an advisory proposal, prepared by the Board of Directors, to ratify […]
7 Habits of Successful Shareholders
V. Ramesh, Head, Asia-Pacific, CurAlea, Bangalore provides a short guide on habits that would help shareowners successfully manage risks. His audience is mostly Indian, but his advice is universal. In very abbreviated form: Learn to think like an owner Get familiar with the numbers Check if your company is well-governed Understand your company’s key risks: […]
Reign of the Shareholder is Over?
I just returned from ICGN 2010 (and will post on that next week). Among the thousands of e-mails I received during my week of absence, one stands out (although I haven’t gone through them all). Brendan Sheehan, the usually thoughtful Executive Editor of the Corporate Secretary, posits the “Reign of the Shareholder is Over” because […]