Originally published as Larry Fink: Here’s Your Answer to the Despicable Letter from the GOP Attorneys General on Medium. The article is republished here with Nell Minow’s permission. James McRitchie, CorpGov.net’s publisher, added the photo above and probably made some unintentional formatting errors. (more…)
Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World (Berrett-Koehler, 2021) is Judy Samuelson’s latest book. Fresh off her testimony to Congress on shareholder primacy, discuss the issues with Judy on Corporate Accountability Forums, Monday 3/28/2022 at 2 pm Eastern – Register now to participate. (more…)
Mr. Fink’s 2022 letter (link) repeatedly emphasizes the need for companies to have a clear “purpose,” a “north star,” that employees “understand and connect with,” as “your staunchest advocates.” How well does BlackRock do on that measure? BlackRock’s own purpose included in its articles of incorporations, “is to engage in any lawful act or activity for […]
BlackRock 2021 annual meeting is May 26, 5 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting, visit here with your control number. I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST Ford, Einhorn, Johnson, Mills, Nixon, Domit, Pay, Auditor. Vote FOR Convert to Public Benefit Corporation. (more…)
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…)
BRT’s Stakeholder Capitalism Exposed Lucian Bebchuk and Roberto Tallarita recently published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, ‘Stakeholder’ Capitalism Seems Mostly for Show. “If CEOs really intended to amend their companies’ purpose, they’d at least consult their boards first.” In an email with a link to the op-ed and the study upon which it is based, Bebchuk […]
BlackRock 2020 annual meeting is 5/14/2020 at 5AM Pacific virtually by entering the eligible shareholder’s 16-digit control number found on the proxy card. To enhance long-term value: Vote AGAINST Einhorn, Ford, Gerber, Johnson, Mills, Nixon, Slim Domit, Auditor, & Pay. Vote FOR Report Corporate Purpose. See list of all virtual-only meetings maintained by ISS. (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…)
Shareholders v Stakeholders is in the news again, driven by the Business Roundtable. Someone asked Quora: Regarding corporate social responsibility, do you agree more with the shareholder view or the stakeholder view theory? Below is my response with a few edits, after some additional thought. (more…)
McRitchie 2019 proxy season results are not something I normally report. It feels too much like bragging. I do my work to drive better, more accountable corporate governance. However, the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance is “considering recommending that the Commission propose rule amendments regarding the thresholds for shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8.” It is […]
American values were recognized as at risk in 1932 when Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means argued that with dispersed shareholders, ownership has been separated from their control. (The Modern Corporation and Private Property) Ironically, concentration of equities under the umbrella of three or four indexed funds presents an opportunity to end that divide and make companies […]
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…)
Can We Really Govern for the Long-Term vs the Quarterly Fixation? This is Part 3 of my coverage of Directors Forum 2017 in San Diego, which was billed as Directors, Management, & Shareholders in Dialogue. I was also hoping to learn more about President Donald J. Trump and how his administration might impact corporate governance. See Part I and Part 2. As […]
Stock Buybacks: Directors Identify Four Reasons Stock Buyback Programs Stock buybacks have reached their highest level since the financial crisis, with S&P 500 companies repurchasing $166.3 billion of shares in first quarter of 2016. The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCi) and Tapestry Networks have scheduled a webinar for Tuesday, September 13, 2016, at 1 PM ET to review the […]
The so-called Commonsense Principles of Corporate Governance are posted here mostly for my future reference, since I don’t know how long others will keep them on the internet. The authors are no radicals, but are a group of 13 executives from the country’s largest public companies and institutional investors… very much mainstream CEOs. Almost half hold both […]