Many were not surprised when the SEC, under Trump appointees, made it more difficult for retail shareholders to submit proposals. Read about our ongoing efforts to overturn that roadblock at Restore Shareholder Proposal Rights. However, most will be surprised that Broadridge Financial Solutions filed a no-action request that could end meaningful proxy voting at meetings, […]
The following guest post originally appeared as a 2019 supplement to The Shareholder Service Optimizer. See Publishers Note at the bottom of this post for more details on how it was changed and how it is relevant to both issuers and employee shareholders. (more…)
Jill Fisch, et al. addresses a central myth around index funds and investors in Passive Investors (June 29, 2018). Her research has implications applicable to recent analysis and recommendations by Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr., Professor Lucian Bebchuk and others. The following is the central highlight: Our key insight is that although […]
Final comment letter to the SEC on Shareholder Proposals, re File Number 4-725, including 11 recommendations highlighted on bold. Thanks to several readers for their excellent suggestions for improvement. See prior post: SEC Proxy Process Video 11-15-2018 (more…)
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) operates as a pharmacy-led health and wellbeing company. It operates through three segments: Retail Pharmacy USA, Retail Pharmacy International, and Pharmaceutical Wholesale. Their annual meeting is coming up on January 26th, 2017. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of 3 fund families when I checked. I voted FOR proxy access and a report […]
Now that proxy season is finally winding down, I had a few minutes to take a quick glance at recent research reported on SSRN. Below I am simply including a few citations and abstracts of studies I might find useful in my own activities as a shareholder advocate in the US. I’m sure I included some […]
The Investor as Owner Subcommittee of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee (SEC-IAC) established pursuant to Section 911 of the Dodd-Frank Act issued a report on Impartiality in the Disclosure of Preliminary Voting Results. The recommendations will be discussed at a meeting on October 9, 2014. When: Thursday, October 9, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Who: Investor […]
This is the second of a two part series. Part I discussed proxy voting at Savings Plus, as compared with at CalPERS. CalHR’s Current RFP for Savings Plus CalHR recently released a Request for Proposal (RFP 700-14-01) seeking bids for investment management services for Savings Plus. Unfortunately, the RFP fails to require Savings Plus participants be informed […]
Most California State employees and retirees have their retirement funds invested largely through two vehicles. CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension, with almost $300B in assets. Many employees also have smaller amounts invested in CalHR‘s Savings Plus program, with assets of $10B. Both vehicles invest a large proportion of their funds in corporate stock, […]
A recent report by InGovern Research Services analyzes patterns in the resolutions proposed by Indian listed companies in the just concluded 2013 proxy voting season. The data has been collated and analyzed from a coverage universe of 585 companies forming part of the S&P 500 and BSE 500 indices, which represent over 95% of the market […]
Regarding CEO pay, Nell Minow recently wrote, “there is a little flicker of light at the end of the long, dark tunnel of outrageous pay.” Her signs of hope: Required advisory “say on pay” (SOP) vote. Last year after a “no” vote, Occidental Petroleum’s board reduced the pay package for CEO Ray Irani and announced […]
During the next several months, most corporations will be sending out their proxies (ballots) and holding their annual meetings. Individual shareholders own about 30% of the stock in US markets but few bother to participate, even though we often feel corporate managers have too much power and too little accountability. When we fail to vote, […]
In his article The Parallel Universes of Institutional Investing and Institutional Voting, Charles M. Nathan appears to pine for the days when institutional investors took the “Wall Street Walk” if they disagreed with management on governance issues. T. Boone Pickens Jr’s response to that perspective: That’s like the gardener telling the estate owner, “If you […]