Being a CEO used to mean something very clear: You were the top dog, answerable only to the collective will of a board of directors. Today's CEOs, by contrast, are often deep down in the org chart, fireable by a boss who in turn is fireable by an even higher-up boss...
Elon Musk testified in a defamation lawsuit that "people think I have a lot of cash. I actually don't," despite an estimated $26.5 billion net worth...
It’s no secret that mistrust of tech is at a crisis level right now. Whether it’s Facebook serving its users misinformation, Twitter enabling targeted harassment campaigns, or just the general exploitation of data that are leaked by sketchy sites across the web, many people are taking a hard look at the technologies that pervade every part of their lives—and many are not feeling happy with what they see...
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped aside from their duties at parent company Alphabet on Tuesday in a move that analysts say marks "the end of an era." The surprise shakeup, which elevates Google CEO Sundar Pichai as Alphabet's CEO, raises inevitable questions about Alphabet's future. The holding company was spawned four years ago in an effort to create more focused businesses units...
Corporate greed is an infectious disease. In the district I represent we feel the symptoms every day, where developers get billions in tax breaks while poor families have the water in their houses turned off and have to turn to food pantries to feed their kids. Now is the time for an aggressive treatment plan — and that includes a tax on excessive CEO pay...
With sustainable investing, a direct connection is made between investments and their social and environmental impacts, such as climate resilience, forced labor, deforestation in supply chains, or workforce diversity...
Christopher Hohn’s activist fund TCI this week warned several companies, including Airbus AIR, -3.54% , Moody’s MCO, -0.65% and Charter Communications CHTR, -0.31% , to improve the carbon footprints or it will vote against their directors, according to a report by the Financial Times...
BOSTON — As U.S. corporate jet use approaches pre-financial crisis levels and chief executives take an increasing number of personal trips on the company tab, many investors are being kept in the dark about the true cost of the perk...
The Indian media has been captivated by the whistleblower saga at Infosys, a leading software and IT services company in India. The drama began with a whistleblower complaint that was leaked to the media on October 22, triggering a 16% drop in the Infosys stock price. The complaint accused Infosys leadership of engaging in unethical practices related to cost recognition, signing low-margin deals and paying for excessive personal travel by the CEO Salil Parikh...
In recent months, I have written about a number of market phenomena that present investors with problems. One of these things concerns the use of stock-based options as a means of compensating executives. In one of his letters, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) criticized the practice, arguing they represent an unfair transfer of wealth from shareholders to managers...
Despite persistent efforts to tackle underrepresentation of women on corporate boards, most boardrooms remain mostly male. The slow progress on gender diversity has frustrated policymakers, industry groups, and institutional investors, many of whom have publicly advocated for inclusion of women and minorities among the top ranks of management...
Carl Icahn is an activist investor with a penchant for confronting incompetent, misguided or complacent corporate management, but he is wrong to oppose the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed new rules for proxy advisory firms (“Let Proxy Advisers Do Their Work,” op-ed, Nov. 19)...
EBay’s $4 billion sale of ticket reseller StubHub to Swiss competitor Viagogo comes after activist investors had pressured the struggling ecommerce giant to unload its more distant assets...
President Barack Obama appeared on stage with Marc Benioff, billionaire founder and CEO of Salesforce on Thursday at the software giant’s annual Dreamforce mega-conference in San Francisco to discuss many topics — including philanthropy, climate change and youth leadership — but one topic put...
Roadrunner Transportation faltered in an economic boom period and now is trying to rebuild with freight far harder to come by...
Presenting to the board of directors is an opportunity for CIOs to shine. Waters Corporation CIO Brook Colangelo shares best practices to help you succeed...
If there’s a kryptonite to Carl Icahn’s super-sized persona it may be Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz – which just happens to be the law firm HP hired for its merger talks with Xerox...
Director pay programs are under greater scrutiny, and S&P 500 companies are striving to anticipate and adapt to this significant change. Compensation limits are at the forefront of this keen interest, with advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, and shareholders, becoming more vocal and taking direct action. This activism is framed by trends that include avid internal and external interest in board diversity and a shift in board compensation with greater emphasis on equity than on cash pay...
Despite longstanding complaints about governance and the tyranny of a few who may or may not hold a meaningful economic interest in the company they founded and/or now control, investors have continued to allocate to controlled or quasi-controlled companies. What has changed is that minority shareholders are no longer content to sit quietly and go along for the ride, increasingly demonstrating they are willing to pull on the few levers of activism and change available at these companies...
Foreign funds have helped raise shareholder returns. Overly strict investment rules could impede their work...
Boardroom diversity — or the lack of it — has become a hot button issue for organizations as they face growing pressure to better reflect their workforce and wider society. Until now, that conversation has centered largely on gender and race — where much work remains to be done. But, increasingly, age is also becoming an important metric of representation...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused his state's largest utility company of mismanaging funds he said it should have used to upgrade an aging electrical grid prone to deadly wildfires. But over the past two decades, Newsom, a Democrat, and his wife have accepted more than $700,000 from the Pacific Gas & Electric Co., its foundation and its employees ...
On December 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved final rules requiring the disclosure of hedging policies in annual proxy statements. The rules, which became effective for proxy statements filed in fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2019, implement a Dodd-Frank mandate.