Is hedge-fund activism good or bad? This question has dominated financial debate this year, as hedge funds besiege on average nearly one company a day seeking to shake up...
On April 14 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit overturned a lower court’s injunction that would have required Wal-Mart to include on its proxy statement a shareholder resolution challenging the retailer’s sale of firearms. So-called social investors...
American activist investors are taking another charge at Europe, a market that has been notably unkind to U.S. funds that campaign for change at large corporations...
TOKYO—Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday tapped an executive of Toyota Motor Corp. TM 1.87 % to join the Bank of Japan 8301 3.43 % ’s policy board, as he seeks support from multinational companies for his plan to revive the economy...
As activist shareholders increasingly become a fixture of corporate America, battle lines are being drawn in the boardroom. Take a recent dust-up on the board of Vail Resorts, Inc...
Elaine Wynn lashed out at a top proxy advisory firm that criticized governance at Wynn Resorts Ltd. and spoke glowingly of the casino operator run by her former husband even as she was expected to be imminently ousted from its board in a messy battle...
Qualcomm, Inc. is under pressure from activist investor Jana Partners LLC to consider a breakup and other options to boost the giant chip maker’s sagging stock price...
Staples said Friday that it has nominated Kunal Kamlani to its board of directors, according to an agreement with activist investor Starboard Value...
Groveland Capital has taken a small stake in the owner of Steak ‘n Shake. It is asking shareholders to oust the firm’s entire board, including Sardar Biglari, its chairman and chief executive.
Christopher Sinclair’s ascension to permanent chief executive officer of Mattel, Inc. reflects a wider trend: more independent directors are landing in the corner office...
Banks are indeed different corporate creatures. Now, their boards are discovering that firsthand. The duty of corporate boards to represent the interests of shareholders above all others has long been the fundamental norm in the U.S...
For all the talk about activist shareholders—usually large hedge funds—getting seats on company boards and pushing to make strategic, value-enhancing changes, these activists haven’t fared especially well. Investing in index funds would have yielded better returns over the past few years than most activist funds...
Google Inc. directors launched a full-court press to poach Ruth Poratas chief financial officer, including a multiyear pay package valued at more than $70 million. The Internet giant said last week that it had lured her away from Morgan Stanley, two weeks after Patrick Pichette, Google’s outgoing CFO, announced his retirement...
TOKYO—The latest clash in Japanese corporate governance pits a father against his daughter in a fight over a retail furniture chain...
In November, GE said Mr. Immelt would receive a 2014 long-term equity incentive grant, which is part of a broader group of changes intended to further align executive pay with company performance...
General Motors will immediately begin buying back $5 billion worth of stock in a deal that avoids a proxy fight with investor Harry J. Wilson who has now agreed to drop his bid to join the auto maker’s board of directors...
Vanguard Group and BlackRock, Inc., giant fund managers once known for quiet relationships with the companies in which they invest, say they are getting more assertive. Vanguard is urging boards to be “substantially independent of management” and warns that it won’t sit idly by on corporate-governance issues, according to a letter from its chief executive sent to several hundred public companies over the past two days...
Many U.S. corporate boards need help making hard decisions. Amid unprecedented pressure from investors, more boards are tapping outside experts so they can monitor management better and clean their own house. The legion of advisers—which some dub “board doctors”—scrutinize boards’ inner workings and prescribe cures for such ills as an entrenched chief executive, 800-page briefing books, or even a director who plays Sudoku during management presentations. The experts often enable board members to make tough choices they are too squeamish to do on their own...
The stock awards are given to several of Ms. Barra's lieutenants and come ahead of a period when executive compensation promises to be in the spotlight. GM, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will sit down with the United Auto Workers this ...
Transocean said its president and chief executive, Steven Newman, will step down effective Monday...
GE said it would begin allowing groups of shareholders to put forth nominees to the company’s board, provided the candidates’ backers own at least 3% of GE shares for at least three years...
As new risks multiply, the audit committee has become the “kitchen junk drawer” for many corporate boards. The workload of the powerful committees has expanded sharply beyond their core role of overseeing a company's financial reporting. They are ...
Earlier this month came refreshing news that an activist shareholder had agreed to withdraw a proposal to split the roles of CEO and chairman at Bank of America in exchange for a study of the bank's corporate culture and guiding values. This presents ...
Activist investor Carl Icahn plans to nominate two candidates to the board of Gannett Co. and is pressing for corporate governance changes after the media company’s planned spinoff of its broadcasting business...