(Reuters) - Zendesk Inc shareholders have approved a $10.2 billion planned acquisition of the software maker by a group of private equity firms led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira, the company said on Monday. The company in June agreed to be taken private in a deal that would be see investors receive $77.50 per share in cash after persistent pressure from activist investor Jana Partners. The firm said that the deal would close in the fourth quarter of the year...

(Reuters) - A push to get more women on U.S. boards has slowed this year, raising concern among recruiters that some firms may have "ticked the gender box" by hitting minimum levels of female representation or moved on to focus on other diversity issues. Improving boardroom diversity has become a focus for many investors who say having a broader range of experiences around the top table improves decision-making and corporate cultures...

WILMINGTON, Del., Aug 22 (Reuters) - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is seeking documents from Twitter Inc co-founder Jack Dorsey as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX pursues his legal fight to walk away from his $44 billion deal for the social media company, according to a court filing...

(Reuters) - Activist investor ValueAct Capital Management on Thursday reported a stake of 6.7% in the New York Times Co, saying that the company's shares are undervalued...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Activist investor ValueAct Capital Partners said on Tuesday it has built an 8.7% stake in cybersecurity software provider Trend Micro Inc, driving shares of the Tokyo-listed firm sharply higher. Shares of Trend Micro, which has a market value of over $8 billion, jumped more than 7% on Tuesday morning after the news...

LONDON (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc, the world's No.1 asset manager, reported on Tuesday a sharp drop in its support for environmental and social-related shareholder resolutions, saying many were too prescriptive, while its backing for directors and executive pay held steady. BlackRock had warned in May it would back fewer shareholder resolutions because many were too constraining, requiring banks, for example, to stop funding energy companies, or directing their climate lobbying activities...

SmileDirectClub, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDC), the next generation oral care company with the first medtech platform for teeth straightening, today announced the appointment of Alex Dimitrief as an independent director on its Board of Directors, effective immediately...

Mondee Holdings II, Inc. (“Mondee” or the “Company”), the high-growth, travel technology company and marketplace, with a portfolio of globally-recognized platforms and brands in the leisure and corporate travel sectors, and ITHAX Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ITHX) (“ITHAX”), a special purpose acquisition company that announced a planned business combination with Mondee (the “Business Combination”), today announced the nominees to the board of directors of the combined company (“New Mondee”)...

(Reuters) -Toshiba Corp shareholders voted in two board directors from activist hedge fund investors at its annual general meeting on Tuesday - an inclusion that is expected to add momentum to its exploration of potential buyout deals. Nabeel Bhanji, a senior portfolio manager at Elliott Management, and Eijiro Imai, managing director at Farallon Capital Management were elected, as was...

LONDON (Reuters) - BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, said on Monday that clients owning nearly half of its $4.9 trillion in equity index assets were now free to control how votes are cast at the annual meetings of the companies in which they their funds invest...

(Reuters) - When plaintiffs lawyers in a derivative suit against Pinterest Inc board members asked for approval of their $5.4 million fee request last April, they told the judge they deserved twice their lodestar bills because they'd obtained significant corporate governance reforms that would make the company more diverse and inclusive, enhancing its long-term value for shareholders. In an order issued on Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco told the firms to prove it...

(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chief executive officers (CEOs) at the largest U.S. corporations saw their total compensation increase at the fastest pace since 2014, according to a new analysis of proxy disclosures by WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company. Significantly larger annual incentive payouts and higher values of long-term incentives granted last year contributed to the big increase in total pay...

FAMED activist investor Nelson Peltz appears set for another corporate battle at Unilever after warning "huge amounts of people in corporate" can be detrimental to a business. Peltz's investment fund Trian has taken a 1.5 per cent stake in the Ben and Jerry's and Durex-maker, with the firm putting Peltz on the board last week in what has largely been perceived as an effort to head off public scraps...

(Reuters) - Toshiba Corp plans to notify shareholders that two board director nominees from activist hedge funds were not approved unanimously by its nomination committee, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. While divided votes on director nominations are not particularly rare, taking the step to formally disclose the matter is unusual, highlighting how contentious the issue has been for Toshiba's board...

(Reuters) - Toshiba Corp, the troubled Japanese conglomerate exploring strategic options, said it has received eight initial proposals to take it private as well as two proposals for capital alliances that would see it remain listed. The news comes amid recent signs that Toshiba, which has long been at loggerheads with its large activist shareholder base, is growing more receptive to calls from foreign hedge fund investors to consider going private...

Quotient Technology Inc. (NYSE: QUOT) (“Quotient” or the “Company”), the leading digital media and promotions technology company, today announced that it has appointed Kimberly Anstett to the Company’s Board of Directors...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - British proxy advisor Pensions & Investment Research Consultants Limited (PIRC) on Monday urged Exxon Mobil Corp shareholders to vote against the re-election of five directors, including Chairman and Chief Executive Darren Woods at Wednesday's annual general meeting. PIRC, a proxy firm that makes recommendations to shareholders, also suggested a no vote on re-electing Alexander Karsner, one of the directors put up by activist hedge fund Engine No. 1 last year...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised that taking over Twitter would enable him to rid the social media platform of its annoying “spam bots." Now he's arguing — without presenting any evidence — that there might be just too many of those automated accounts for the $44 billion deal to move ahead. The sharp turnaround by the world's richest man makes little sense except as a method to scuttle or renegotiate a deal that's becoming increasingly costly for Musk, experts said...

(Reuters) - A state court judge found California's law requiring publicly held companies to include women on their boards unconstitutional, dealing another blow to the state's push to diversify corporate leadership. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis issued the decision on Friday in favor of three California taxpayers who sought to block enforcement of the law, according to a copy of the ruling...

(Reuters) - BP shareholders on Thursday backed the energy company's climate strategy, while fewer investors than last year supported a resolution filed by an activist group urging faster action to battle climate change...

(Reuters) - Credit Suisse shareholders on Friday rejected by a wide margin the board's proposal to discharge the beleaguered Swiss bank's management from liabilities for the 2020 financial year, as investor ire over a slew of costly missteps grows. The vote showed growing pushback over what has been described as a free-wheeling culture at Switzerland's second-biggest bank...

LONDON (Reuters) -Barclays has put its $1.25 billion share buyback plan on hold until talks with U.S. regulators over a major trading blunder have been resolved, piling early pressure on the British bank's new Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan. Barclays disclosed on March 28 that it had exceeded a U.S. limit on sales of structured products, triggering a loss and a potential restatement of its 2021 accounts...

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR) (“Ventas” or the “Company”) today confirmed that, with the 2022 Annual Meeting results imminent this week, Land & Buildings has withdrawn its nomination of proxy fight candidate Jonathan Litt, who Land & Buildings previously nominated to stand for election to the Ventas Board of Directors in connection with...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Median pay for top U.S. CEOs rose 31% last year to a record $20 million, a new study found, surging after a slight decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies showered leaders with stock awards and cash bonuses. Chief executives receiving big pay increases included the leaders of tech giant Apple and semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom Inc,, according to the study released Monday by research firm Equilar...