Women accounted for 29% of U.S. board directors in S&P 500 companies in 2020, up from 19% in 2014, according to the latest survey of 26 countries from BoardEx. That number looks poised to grow as investors following sustainable principles push for more-diverse boards...
How the backers of blank-check companies are compensated for their efforts has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate over the merits or drawbacks of the popular vehicles...
AMC Entertainment is walking back plans to ask shareholders to allow more stock sales. The meme stock’s retail investors on Reddit couldn’t be happier. On Tuesday, AMC CEO Adam Aron wrote on Twitter that he didn’t think there was enough support from shareholders to authorize the sale of 25 million shares as soon as 2022, despite his backing...
Tensions are running hot ahead of Genesco’s annual meeting later this month, with the retailer rapidly trading barbs with an activist investor intent on shaking up its board...
The economics of a videogame publisher are a lot like a movie studio, where a blockbuster can make or break a company. Optimism was high for Warsaw-listed CD Projekt (ticker: CDR.Poland) ahead of the release of the Cyberpunk 2077 videogame, which features an actual Hollywood star, Keanu Reeves, and has been in development since 2012. But the release has been reminiscent more of Reeves flops such as Johnny Mnemonic than hits like The Matrix...
On Wednesday, what was once unthinkable happened: An upstart hedge fund, Engine No. 1, was able to unseat at least two board members at Exxon Mobil despite holding only 0.02% of the shares of the $250 billion company...
Yesterday, Exxon Mobil shareholders elected at least two of the dissident directors proposed by the activist hedge fund Engine No. 1. Investors have lost patience with the basic business assumption that oil and gas will rule forever...
Exxon Mobil faces a rare proxy challenge this month, as activist shareholders at a firm called Engine No. 1 want to shake up the company’s board...
To environmentalists, the idea of investing in a metals and oils producing conglomerate might seem beyond the pale...
Investment manager Neuberger Berman will disclose ahead of time how it will vote its proxies for 60 or so companies before they hold their annual meetings. The move marks the second year that Neuberger is preannouncing its votes, both for and against corporate management, and explaining its voting rationale...
The activist investors want to shake up the board of directors at Kohl's. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images Kohl’s stock got a boost from the company’s better-than-expected fiscal fourth- quarter earnings, but the activist investors clamoring for change at the department store weren’t pleased with the results...
Carl Icahn, billionaire activist investor, disclosed a stake in Bausch Health. Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg Bausch Health stock got an added boost Friday after billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed a 7.8% stake in the pharmaceutical and medical device company. Shares advanced more than 6% in early trading Friday, pushing the stock above a 13-month high. In a regulatory filing, Icahn said he believes Bausch (ticker: BHC) shares are “undervalued” and that he may seek seats on Bausch’s board...
As Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos prepares to leave his role as the firm’s CEO, expect the company’s board to have a harder time overseeing company management, one activist shareholder says...
Whether you invest in oil-and-gas companies or trade Bitcoin, financial regulation under the Biden administration will make its mark on your portfolio—and may even change the way you invest...
Third Point CEO Daniel Loeb David Paul Morris/Bloomberg After a tough year, Intel executives received one last 2020 surprise. It came in the form of a sharply worded letter this past week from activist investor Daniel Loeb. Loeb, CEO of hedge fund Third Point, laid out the need for change at the once pioneering chip maker...
Japan is a country of contradictions. Its bullet trains, advanced robotics, and kiosk culture are a model of efficiency, but businesses still rely on paper documents and fax machines. It’s home to some of the most innovative companies in the world, and yet it is the poster child of sluggish growth and an aging population...
A group representing hundreds of institutional investors is stepping up pressure on drugmakers to ensure Covid-19 vaccines and therapies are affordable and widely accessible...
Investors have been using shareholder resolutions to voice concerns and shape corporate practices to combat racial injustice. Fund companies, with their huge assets and meaningful stakes, can leverage their proxy votes to support these changes. Still, some are more supportive than others...
Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of Twitter. Cole Burston/Bloomberg Twitter said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Monday that the company’s board of directors had reviewed CEO Jack Dorsey’s leadership and will allow him to remain as top boss. Shares of Twitter (ticker: TWTR) rose nearly 6% to $41.79 early afternoon Tuesday...
The number of Black appointees to Russell 3000 corporate boards surged in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the racial justice movement that ensued, with Procter & Gamble,Pinterest, PepsiCo, Target, and UPSamong the companies that appointed Black directors, according to research that BoardProspects, a digital platform for companies to find board talent and C-suite executives, shared with Barron’s...
Crown said Monday it is “open to considering opportunities to create value.” Dreamstime Activist investor Elliott Management is ratcheting up the pressure on Crown Castle . The hedge fund disclosed a $1 billion stake in the Houston-based cell tower firm last month , arguing that Crown wasn’t getting proportional rewards for its hefty investment of time and money in its fiber-cable business...
Real-estate-data firm CoreLogic says a $65-per-share bid by Senator Investment Group and Cannae Holdings undervalues the company. Senator and Cannae are looking for a third investor to push the deal. Joe Raedle/Getty Images There has been a paucity of activist fights to track in 2020, but signs suggest that one of this year’s battles is shaping up to be a bruiser...
Get ready for an office real-estate reset. At least, that’s what activist investor Jonathan Litt of Land & Buildings , known for agitating for change at Taubman Centers and now-private Hudson’s Bay, expects. Litt has reportedly been betting against stocks of New York City office landlords now that expensive, densely populated urban centers have lost some luste r. “The genie is out of the bottle—you can’t put it back in,” Litt tells Barron’s , adding that he expects lower valuations and rents as owners navigate through the pandemic. “Stay alive until 2025,” he quips. Last week Litt ...
For decades, investors have recognized the importance of good corporate governance as a contributor to a company’s long-term prospects. Recent years have seen a growing consensus that good environmental stewardship can enhance returns, as well...