Sky Blog
In their recent article, Jeff Schwartz and Alexandra Nelson critique the Securities and Exchange Commission’s cost-benefit analysis accompanying the Conflict Minerals Rule.[1] This rule requires public companies using conflict minerals in their production to annually disclose whether the minerals …
The European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) published on July 19, 2016 its final advice to the European Commission (the “Commission”) on the extension of the marketing passport under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”)1 to twelve non-EEA2 countries, …
The system for resolving domain-name disputes is unique in that it gives the complainant the unilateral ability to choose the arbitration provider. As a result, providers, whether motivated by profit or prestige, have incentives to favor the complainant, a trademark …
Courts handling shareholder class actions and other types of securities litigation have expressed different views about how often stocks should respond to material news. Despite the importance of this issue in determining whether shares trade in an efficient market, these …
On May 17, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (“C&DIs”) on the use of non-GAAP financial measures. With a fiscal reporting period having passed since the SEC issued the C&DIs, we surveyed …
Valuation, solvency, and adequate capitalization analyses play a crucial role in the process of reorganizing U.S. companies in bankruptcy. They are central to allowance of claims, adequate protection, avoidance actions such as fraudulent transfer and preference, rejection …
In State of Florida v. Espinoza, a trial court in Miami recently dismissed all charges against an individual Bitcoin exchanger, who was arrested in a sting operation after agreeing to sell bitcoins to an undercover detective who purported to …
Much recent work in finance and economics aims to understand the role that chief executive officers and other top managers play in the firms they run. Traditional theories about firm decisions on matters such as capital structure or investments don’t …
In Larkin v. Shah, issued on August 25, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a stockholder challenge to a merger due to the cleansing effect of fully informed stockholder approval, applying the Delaware Supreme Court’s recent Corwin v. KKR Financial …
Diversity in corporate boards is a hot topic. We contribute to the debate on the role of diversity by empirically documenting that greater national cultural diversity in corporate boards leads to lower performance at UK firms accounting for more than …
The role that investors play in replacing chief executive officers of startup companies has been the subject of heated debate in the investing community, and it remains controversial whether investors in startups do better by replacing incumbent CEOs. Our recent …
Most of the lawsuits against Argentina in the New York courts ended in the Spring of 2016 through cash settlements with the major litigants. The market is still digesting the lessons from this 15 years of bitter litigation. That …
A good deal of current American political commentary centers on disputes about whether the American economy has truly recovered from the slump of 2008. Our political candidates offer different narratives about the causes of the slump as well as about …
Financial reform has driven many changes in American governance, but the most dramatic one may prove to be the government’s cautious, but wide-ranging, embrace of a revised global regime to regulate international finance. That reform has moved the equilibrium of …
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2002 in the aftermath of a series of corporate scandals. It aims to strengthen investor protection by promoting better corporate governance and auditor independence. In particular, Sections 302 and …
Individual investors are active participants in the shareholder resolution process. According to Proxy Monitor, shareholder proposals sponsored by individual investors represent approximately one-quarter of the total number of shareholder resolutions voted on each year.[1] During the 10-year period 2006-2015, individual …
On April, 27 2016, the European Council and Parliament finally adopted a new data protection law: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The following is a summary of key issues and a checklist of initial tasks to help you prepare …
For chief executive officers, communication is essential. It allows them to help stakeholders understand a company’s strategies and form opinions about the company’s prospects as well as the CEO’s ability to create value. While effective communication is important at every …
On August 15, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a regulatory notice adopting a requirement that U.S. registered broker-dealers collect margin on To-Be-Announced (TBA) transactions (FINRA Rule 4210).[1] FINRA’s action follows the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of …