Board oversight of significant company risk areas and legal compliance deserves renewed attention, as the Delaware Supreme Court recently ruled that monitoring practices that have previously been considered acceptable may constitute a breach of fiduciary duty which could expose directors to personal liability...
The activist investors are on the tarmac at Emerson Electric Co. D.E. Shaw Group on Tuesday released a letter calling for the $42 billion industrial company to spin off its climate division and make productivity and corporate-governance improvements, including culling its fleet of eight corporate jets and a helicopter. The public pressure follows reports late last month that D.E. Shaw was seeking a breakup of the company and Emerson’s subsequent announcement that it would review its operations....
There are few events as significant for the board of directors as the decision to sell the company. Whether public, family-owned or PE-backed, the sale ...
People disagree, for example, on such basic matters as the purpose of the corporation, the role of corporate boards of directors , the rights of ...
Boeing Co.'s boardroom shakeup puts David Calhoun, a powerful behind-the-scenes figure, in position to control the aerospace giant's response to the 737 MAX crisis, one of the most fraught episodes in the company's history. Senior officials at some Boeing customers said they found the move to appoint Mr. Calhoun chairman, unveiled Friday, reassuring amid the MAX's prolonged grounding following two deadly crashes...
The rumbling started last August when the Business Roundtable announced that a company’s responsibility is more than just to its shareholders. Companies actually hold a responsibility to their respective communities as well, this group of corporate chieftains acknowledged. The declaration elicited both praise and condemnation. Among the most cynical reactions was to call the statement “yogababble,” which is a snarky way of questioning purpose-driven terms and language.
Just the appearance of a conflict of interest can jolt a candidacy - and your company's board...
Shareholder activism remains pervasive in the corporate landscape, as many companies continue to face new, and sometimes more sophisticated, activist situations. Recent activism-related trends indicate that the landscape is continually shifting, and companies’ strategies for dealing with activism should therefore also evolve and adapt...
Over the decade that ended at the close of 2017, GE spent $53.9 billion to repurchase 2.07 billion shares, at average prices of $26. At today's $8.38 ...
As I have previously explained , I think that Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE ) is right in its decision not to give in to demands by activist investor Third Point LLC to break the company apart. I believe that the company will be stronger in the long run if it keeps most of its different businesses under one roof. There is, however, one part of Third Point's assessment I agree with...
The latest campaign for Wall Street hedge fund Elliott Management is a big one, taking on well-known American staple AT&T. The man in charge of pushing the massive company to make the changes the $38 billion fund sees fit is 39-year-old Jesse Cohn, billionaire Paul Singer's right-hand man...
Let’s face it — data security is significant problem for corporate America. If you don’t think so, here’s a statistic that may help convince you: in Q1 2019 alone, there were 1.9 billion records exposed . In fact, a business falls victim to a ransomware attack every 14 seconds . That’s right — every 14 seconds . In fact, the global cost of online crime is expected to reach $6 trillion by 2021...
The world’s largest asset managers BlackRock and Vanguard control the largest blocks of shares in nearly every publicly traded firm in the U.S. The pattern of ownership is seen in the energy and utility industries, and across the companies at which there were critical climate votes in 2019 (see Figure 13). The two asset managers were both in the top five common stock shareholders at all 28 companies with critical climate resolutions...
In September 2019, the Social and Economic Council (SER) advised the Dutch government to encourage the appointment of more women at the top management layers of the business world. The Council suggested that there needs to be a 30% quota for women for the Supervisory Boards of listed companies. “I believe that a quota will speed up the process,” says Nancy McKinstry, CEO & Chairman of Wolters Kluwer. “ If you create more diversity, you attract more diversity...
With stocks pricey and the economy weakening, more CEOs and boards of directors will come under pressure to create value, including by breaking ...
What makes a CEO outrageous? When he or she has the courage, conviction and candor to change a company’s culture...
California led the way last year with a pioneering law requiring publicly traded companies headquartered in the state to have at least one woman on their board of directors by the end of 2019. But a year after then-Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed the measure into law, data indicate that boosting the number of women on boards of directors may be easier said than done for companies in the state...
If lawmakers think businesses are paying corporate execs too much, they probably should focus on corporate governance , not tax issues. If they do ...
Accounting sleuth Harry Markopolos believes GE is engaged in accounting fraud so vast that the storied conglomerate will soon be forced into bankruptcy. Markopolos was the lone person to sound the alarm on Bernie Madoff's Ponzi operation, and gained fame and credibility by turning out to be spectacularly right, raising fears he could be right about GE as well...
Effective board evaluations can drive better board performance. So how are today’s leading boards evolving their evaluations to enhance effectiveness, and what are their companies communicating to stakeholders about their board evaluation processes...
... for the dramatic corporate governance reforms of the past twenty-five years. ... It is important to treat employees well…because it is good business…
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The current iteration of risk evaluation heat maps are akin to slow-to-pixelate Doppler radars. They don't do cyber risk evaluation justice, nor do they convey impact in a thoughtful manner for a board of directors...
As Larry Culp, the CEO of General Electric ( NYSE:GE ) , nears the one-year mark of his tenure, he can probably sleep a little bit easier. Not because GE's stock has recovered -- it's down more than 65% over the last three years. And not because GE has suddenly started to outperform. Its Q2 revenue, adjusted earnings, and free cash flow all saw year-over-year declines...
Vanguard Investment Stewardship Officer Glenn Booraem uses both soft power and hardline voting tactics to tilt corporate governance towards what ...