Meta Lawsuit: In Brief Many thanks to Rick Alexander and The Shareholder Commons for allowing me to play a small role in opening up a new legal battle. The Meta lawsuit contends that directors of Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, must consider the effects of its commercial activities on the portfolios of Meta shareholders, not just Meta’s short-term […]
Saving American Democracy in the Age of Citizens United, that’s the subtitle of a new book by Robert A.G. Monks entitled The Emperor’s Nightmare. The subtitle speaks to the book’s forward thrust. The title puts that in the context of a long journey in corporate governance by Monks. The cover of Power and Accountability in 1991 […]
The following extensive comments were submitted by William Lazonick, president of the Academic-Industry Research Network and UMass professor of economics emeritus, in response to my review of Predatory Value Extraction. This is dialogue a reviewer can only dream of, especially after already recieving a response from co-auther Jang-Sup Shin. More such exchanges with Shin, Lazonick, and others interested in […]
Charles Schwab chronicles the history of his namesake firm in Invested: Changing Forever the Way Americans Invest. I knew he led a technological revolution and was among the first to slash prices. From A Nation of Small Shareholders, I also knew Schwab was on a long-term mission to have every American share in our growing […]
Nell Minow is one of my heroes. Her 1991 book with Bob Monks, Power and Accountability: Restoring the Balances of Power Between Corporations and Society, helped me give a name and framework to what I thought was the world’s most important overlooked problem — corporate governance. During the last 27 years, I have never met […]
I continue my review of The Handbook of Board Governance: A Comprehensive Guide for Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Board Member. With the current post, I provide comments on Part 4 of the book, The Rise of Shareholder Accountability. As a shareholder advocate, this is my favorite part of The Handbook of Board Governance. See prior introductory comments and those on Part 1, Part 2 and […]
Robert A.G. Monks, concerned with shameful corporate behavior today blogged When a Child Rules the Parent: The Problem of Corporate Domicile in a Global World. Corporations are creatures of the state but the social contracts that made them attractive in serving human interests are breaking down… Either we need to reign corporate operations in within […]
Mike Tyrrell is Editor of SRI-Connect – an online research marketplace for professional institutional investors, analysts & companies interested in sustainable development. He is keen to open up the site to corporate governance analysts & corporate governance research. Mike kindly gave permission to reproduce the interview on CorpGov.net. (more…)
Some have argued that Ralph Nader started socially responsible shareholder activism with Campaign GM, when the group filed shareholder proposals to expand GM’s board to include consumer advocates and empower shareholders to place their board nominees on GM’s proxy ballot (proxy access). According to a recent article in the WSJ, the longtime consumer advocate is now putting […]
In a recent Stanford “Closer Look” publication (How ISS Dictates Equity Plan Design), Ian D. Gow (Harvard but graduated from Stanford), David F. Larcker, Allan l. Mccall, and Brian Tayan argue ISS dictates pay equity plans. ‘Nonsense,’ was my first reaction. ISS policies generally reflect the will of its customers. The authors have a point […]
Robert Monks has just begun a series of articles at CSRwire on his most recent book, Citizens DisUnited: Passive Investors, Drone CEOs, and the Corporate Capture of the American Dream (my review). Part one of the CSRwire is A Simple Solution to Runaway Corporate Power. See also, Robert A.G. Monks, Crusading Against Corporate Excess, NYTimes, July 6th. His main message […]
About a month ago, I posted a piece aimed at getting students and alumni at Harvard (and hopefully at other universities) to advocate for more democratic endowments. In my zeal to focus on endowment governance, I was far too dismissive of the movement at Harvard and hundreds of universities to divest of fossil fuels. While […]
John Harrington, of Harrington Investments, will present his proposal on proxy access at the upcoming Bank of America (BAC) meeting on May 8th in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be the first time language modified to provide a floor for retail nominators of at least 1/2% will be voted on. That modification was made in an attempt […]
I’ve received praise before: CII said my petition to the SEC on proxy access “re-energized” the debate on that subject, Lexis-Nexis subscribers listed my site among the top 25 business blogs and the NACD put me on a list of “people to watch.” However, never have I felt so honored as when I heard Bob […]
Sep 19 2012 Bob Monks, founder of GMI, thinks far too few owners participated in the shareholder spring. To promote activism, fiduciaries should be paid but should also be held to account. We should be unequivocal and make clear that society requires effective ownership, he says. (4m 29sec) (more…)
I can’t think of a better way to end the year’s videos than watching Robert Monks rehearse his opening speech for GMI’s Public Funds Forum 2011 and the great cartoon from MoxyVote.com. Bob always knows how to uncover the camouflage and lay out the misdeeds of the Business Roundtable and Chamber of Commerce, as well as how to […]
Gary Larkin’s recent post, 2011 CEO Succession Report: Dismissals Up, Outside Hires on the Rise, informs Conference Board readers that Institutional Shareholder Services has launched an executive compensation database service for its client subscribers. Say on Pay rules were the driving force behind the new service. The database includes historical CEO and NEO (named executive […]
Bob Monks discusses how there is no one way to determine value. ‘Beauty is in the eye of the promoter.’ The collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns resulted from the SEC under Christopher Cox allowing banks to set their (more…)
Robert A. G. Monks is asking some fundamental questions on his blog and, at least so far, is responding to comments. That’s a rare phenomenon in the blogosphere. I urge readers to get involved in this dialogue (The Appearance of Reality: Shareholders & Ownership): The process by which directors are chosen is described as an […]
At this point, the attempt to translate corporate governance aspirations to law has failed. Bob Monks. From TEDxNewSt – Lucy P. Marcus – Boardroom Activism. Basic information but (more…)
The deadline was August 17th, so the comment letters on proxy access have all been filed and posted. Many are well worth reading. If you don’t see yours posted, you might want to resubmit it. TIAA-CREF, one of the more conservative shareowner activists, calls on the Commission to raise the threshold to 5% for shareowners at all […]