SEC to Protect Shareholder Rights in 2021 Shareholder rights in 2021 will strengthen if recent speculation is realized. U.S. Senate Democrats aim to undo Trump-era shareholder voting rights rule. Shareholder Rights in 2021: History As discussed elsewhere on CorpGov.net (Review: Carl Gershenson). After its founding, the SEC was largely a champion of shareholder rights, requiring companies […]
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…)
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…)
Racial equity is a serious issue. Investors, including Corporate Governance (CorpGov.net), must take action. The investor community has perpetuated and benefitted from systemic racism. We say it ends now. We’re proud to sign the Investor Solidarity Statement alongside 128 investors to end systemic racism in the sector. Join us at #RacialJusticeInvesting. (more…)
GPW (Global Proxy Watch) discussed selected comments from investors to the SEC concerning two proposed rules in an article entitled Blowback, reproduced below with permission. GPW normally runs two pages, summarzing weekly developments on governance and stewardship from Stephen Davis and Aaron Bernstein. Blowback took almost a page. (more…)
Say.com goes live to help small shareholders have a greater voice in how the companies they’re invested in are run. Say facilitates proxy voting for shareholders who invest at the broker-dealers it is partnered with and also is creating new products for all shareholders to engage with companies, regardless of where they invest. (more…)
Global Proxy Watch (GPW) is terrific publication by Stephen Davis and Aaron Bernstein aimed at the corporate governance industrial complex. I read every word of every issue. It only runs a couple of pages, but it is jammed packed with news that cannot be found elsewhere. Here’s one article that took up about 1/4 of the […]
GAMCO First to Invoke Proxy Access On November 9, 2016, GAMCO Asset Management Inc. (“GAMCO”) and certain affiliates, delivered a letter to the Issuer (the “Nomination Letter”) nominating Mr. Lance A. Bakrow (the “Nominee”) for election to the Issuer’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) at the Issuer’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2017 Annual […]
GPW – Global Proxy Watch “recognizes 10 people around the world who have had the most impact on corporate governance” each year. Since I found myself on this year’s list, I’m reproducing it below, so that I have a record of this honor. (more…)
The State Universities Retirement System of Illinois (SURS) is one of five state-funded retirement plans, serving 65 employers (public universities and colleges) and more than 227,000 members – both annuitants and active members. SURS provides retirement, survivor, disability and death benefits to its members and their families. Currently SURS employs 130 individuals at its Champaign […]
The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) recently welcomed the decision by Royal Dutch Shell’s Board of Directors to recommend support for the ‘Aiming for A’ shareholder resolution submitted by a coalition of shareholders including the Forum, CCLA, Rathbone Greenbank Investments and the Church Investors Group. In a letter to the investor coalition advising of […]
The following is a guest post from Aaron Bernstein. editor of Global Proxy Watch and a Senior Research Fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. This piece originally appeared in the November 7, 2014 edition of GPW. I reformatted, added the title, graphics and ads. Let’s hope the SEC recognizes Whole Foods […]
CorpGov.net publisher/shareowner activist, James McRitchie in the news. Shareholders push for more say over board members (WSJ’s MarketWatch), on proxy access proposals at Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Sued again for daring to file proxy proposals, EMC sues shareholder activists over bid to separate CEO, chairman roles (Boston Business Journal). They lost their ‘no-action’ request […]
The Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance announced upcoming events. I would certainly attend, if I lived closer. (more…)
Stephen Davis, of Davis Global Advisors, is assembling a long-range list of global corporate governance-related conferences/workshops/events for the World Bank website and Global Proxy Watch newsletter. Please pass on the date, city, title, sponsor, location, and contact information for any such events you may know about by e-mailing smd@davisglobal.com. Please cc me at jm@corpgov.net so that I can add a select […]
Delaware Court of Chancery has made important rulings concerning stock option plans for directors and the issuance of stock to directors in Noerr v. Greenwood and Linton v. Everett. According to Edward P. Welch and Andrew J. Turezyn, the cases “counsel directors and their legal advisors to consider carefully such issues as fairness, disclosure to […]