Leading internet-based image publisher Shutterfly’s share price has been stagnant for a while now. Shutterfly recently inducted two members from Marathon Partners (an activist investor firm holding a 5% stake in the company) onto its board. This can lead to some shareholder-friendly changes at Shutterfly. These reforms, coupled with Shutterfly’s current financial conditions and management statements, indicate that the company might be on the lookout for an acquisition target...

Most entrepreneurs avoid setting up a board of directors for their new business unless or until they sign up an investor who demands a seat on the board. That implies that a board of directors has no value to the founder, and is just another burden that to be assumed for the privilege of attracting outside investors or going public. In my view, nothing could be further from the truth...

Lots of big U.S. companies are trying to infuse their boards with Asian and European leaders who can provide what’s known as “passport diversity.” That’s a fine idea in principle, says DuPont chair and chief executive Ellen Kullman. But in a public address Monday at Stanford University Law School, she warned against hasty boardroom globalization and the perils of the jet-lagged director. DuPont, based in Wilmington, Del., historically has achieved nearly half its sales outside North America.

Anthem (ANTM) this afternoon went public with its takeover bid for Cigna Corp. (CI) offering the global health insurer $184 per share in cash and stock, according to a statement from the acquirer. Anthem said the combined company would have $115 billion in annual revenues and cover 53 million people with commercial insurance as well as government business including Medicare, Medicaid and individual plans offered on exchanges under the Affordable Care Act...

It is wrong to rely on regulators, whose focus is inevitably on compliance, to improve governance at the U.K’s biggest companies. That warning comes from Ken Olisa, Chairman of the advisory panel for a report launched this morning in London by the Institute of Directors (IOD)...

When Sardar Biglari, CEO of Biglari Holdings, won a hotly contested shareholder proxy in April, investors feared his next move would be to cement control over the company. They were right, and a review of Biglari’s actions in recent months shows he did so with the help of leading Wall Street investment banks...

Citrix Systems , best known for its online GoToMeeting service may be preparing for a series of meetings of its own. Jesse Cohn, a technology-focused portfolio manager with powerful activist hedge fund Elliott Management, disclosed a 7.1% stake in Citrix and a plan to work with the company on improving its operations, while also selling or spinning corporate assets...

Despite an analyst downgrade, slow-growing storage giant EMC appears unconcerned about some of its competitors. And if — unlike me – you are an investor, that attitude could be a cause for concern unless you believe that Hewlett Packard will come to the rescue...

Reuters reported yesterday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigation claims that Dow Chairman Andrew Liveris misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars in company funds on himself. The voluble Australian executive is accused of disguising family vacations and junkets as business expenses, and hiring his wife to oversee a money-losing company hotel project. Dow dismissed the latest reports as “recycled old allegations,” and there’s some truth to that...

With Walmarts annual meeting weeks away, an investor is lobbying fellow shareholders to take a stand against an unbalanced pay program that sees CEO Doug McMillon make over 1,100 times the salary of an average store worker on an hourly wage. CtW Investment Group, an arm of the Change to Win Federation labor coalition, has sent a letter to Walmart shareholders urging them to vote against the retail giants executive compensation proposal at its June 5th annual meeting...

There are only three true interview questions. Every question you have ever been asked or have asked others in any interview is a subset of one of these three:

Tempur Sealy International on Monday unveiled a settlement with hedge fund H Partners that will revamp the mattress company's board of directors and lead to change atop the Lexington, Ky-based company...

Hedge fund H Partners scored a victory on Friday in its bid to unseat directors from the board of mattress giant Tempur Sealy International, indicating widespread investor dissatisfaction with the company's financial results and management...

Just weeks after failing to win regulatory support for a $45 billion takeover of competitor Time Warner Cable, Comcast reported a strong rise in profits and an significant increase in its quarterly dividend and annual share repurchase authorization...

At their core, Boards of Directors make strategic decisions and provide oversight, while Management makes recommendations and manages implementation...

On Friday, HSBC gave a very clear hint that it might move its headquarters from London – presumably, but not necessarily, back to Hong Kong. There are complicated reasons and sub-plots behind the suggestion: the official reason, a fear that the UK might leave the EU, is surely only a part of it. But if it happens, what does it mean to HSBC’s legions of loyal shareholders...

Turnover of CEOs accelerated almost 16% between January 2013 and 2014—the highest level in four years, according to outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Shareholders believe that a side effect of this trend appears to be outsized golden parachutes designed to benefit CEOs—and other executives—who will likely experience a significant [...]

The Tax Court decision in the case of William Kardash and Charles Robb is one of those where the back story is quite a bit more interesting than the decision.  The problems of Mr. Kardash and Mr. Robb are collateral damage in the collapse of Florida Engineered Construction Products Corp (FECP).  Their former boss John D. Stanton currently resides at a low security federal correctional institution...

Ten Highly Effective Actions For Gaining Your First Board Appointment Women have been pushing up against a granite ceiling to gain corporate board seats in the US for decades. I served on my first board, General Re, in 1990, when just 11% of the public corporate board seats were filled [...]

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No. 1 Larry Ellison

Company: Oracle 2014 Compensation: $67.3 million Current Net Worth*: $53.6 billion The data included here was compiled by executive compensation firm Equilar for the New York Times, and tracks CEO compensation at the 100 largest public U.S. firms, as measured by revenue. Forbes further narrowed its scope to focus exclusively on the paychecks of billionaire chief executives. * Net worths calculated as of April 21, 2015...

They say you don't get rich by writing a lot of checks. And if you believe the IRS, failing to pay billions in federal taxes may explain how two brothers and Texas businessmen amassed a fortune worthy of landing them among the Forbes 400 Richest Americans. Sam Wyly, who along with his [...]

In addition to positioning it as a top player in the telecom gear market, the deal will help Nokia expand its product portfolio in the domains of optical transmission and Internet Protocol (routers and switches), which are essential components in building a complete network...

Given my personal history, and the fact that I have sat in several board meetings where mistakes have been made, I’d like to share some tips with first-time CEOs running their first board meeting...

Today there are close to 20 Shopping Center REITs in the U.S. and that makes the industry ripe for consolidation.