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…)
Leo Strine (Leo E. Strine, Jr.) is one of history’s most prolific legal scholars, especially on issues of corporate accountability. I have seen and heard him in many venues. Much like a rock star, he often comes out, blows our minds, and quickly exits the stage. On Monday (3/14/22), he will be our guest on […]
Accountable may be an exception. Not many books on capitalism and corporate governance have the potential to spread like a meme. O’Leary and Valdamanis have a rare talent for using memorable terms like the Two-Buffett Paradox, Fiduciary Absolutism, and Milgram-Nixon Syndrome. Buy it on Amazon and I might get a few cents for the referral. I […]
Proposal #4 aims at increasing diversity by adding a worker to the pool of candidates to be considered for the Board. The idea is to increase the voice of “partners.” We’ve been listening and seeing how important partners are to Starbucks. (more…)
Woodward 2021 Shareholder Presentation: Background My proxy voting recommendations for the January 27, 2021 meeting can be found at Woodward 2021: Empower Workers. The meeting begins at 7 AM Pacific Time. View the Proxy Statement via SEC’s EDGAR system. This post is a draft of my presentation of Proposal #5. Registered shareholders will be sent a link one hour prior […]
WD-40 2020, where employee voice and empowerment is on the ballot. The WD-40 2020 annual meeting is Tuesday, December 8th. To enhance long-term value, vote AGAINST the auditor and FOR all other items, including #4. $WDFC (more…)
#ReproReceipts Campaign by UltraViolet highlights hypocrisy and Calls for Accountability at AT&T, Coca Cola, Disney, Nike, Procter & Gamble, and Uber
Predatory Value Extraction: How the Looting of the Business Corporation Became the US Norm and How Sustainable Prosperity Can Be Restored (Kindle/Hardcover), by William Lazonick and Jang-Sup Shin, chronicles how agency theory and ‘maximizing shareholder value’ (MSV) led to looting of publicly traded companies. As many of us sit home waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic, […]
Shareholders v Stakeholders is in the news again, driven by the Business Roundtable. Someone asked Quora: Regarding corporate social responsibility, do you agree more with the shareholder view or the stakeholder view theory? Below is my response with a few edits, after some additional thought. (more…)
On or before May 22, shareowners of Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) have a chance to vote FOR proposal #4, requesting a report on converting the ownership structure of Twitter to a cooperative or other more democratic form of governance. Twitter has been critical to those involved in the struggle for democracy but could be even more […]
A supervisor solicits ideas and suggestions from workers, hears them out even when disagreeing with them, and uses suggestions from the group in making decisions. All well and good, but, given the natural human resistance to yield decision-making, how is the group likely to respond to such initiatives? With little change at first, but, once […]
As Black Friday nears, Wal-Mart ($WMT) workers and community supporters are beginning 1,000 nationwide non-violent protests leading up to and on Black Friday, including strikes, rallies, flash mobs, direct action and other efforts to inform customers about the illegal actions that Wal-Mart has been taking against its workers. As part of the protests, Wal-Mart workers walked off […]