Sky Blog
Stock repurchases by issuing corporations have always been controversial. But they have become even more so recently because of the perception that the excess funds used to finance buybacks have come from tax cuts and other sources (such as government …
On June 2, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted amendments[1] to Regulation S-T, the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and certain forms, including Forms 144, to mandate the electronic filing or submission …
Firms often take on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives to increase their sustainability and the positive feelings among investors. However, specific ESG initiatives, like all business initiatives, rarely continue indefinitely, and “pruning” them is an integral part of firms’ …
On June 8, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it is again reopening the comment period for its proposed clawback rule, a rule that has been required to be promulgated since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall …
As a social-policy instrument, forced board-gender balancing is in principle unrelated to firms’ economic performance. Nonetheless, imposing such a policy may have unintended consequences (positive or negative) for firm value, which is important for all of a firm’s constituencies – …
In December 2021, As You Sow, a non-profit foundation promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility, filed shareholder proposals on behalf of Amazon.com and Comcast Corporation shareholders for action at each of their 2022 annual meetings. The Amazon proposal and …
Distressed firms may avoid an otherwise beneficial Chapter 11 reorganization because they fear losing customers. In our recent paper, we use two experiments to estimate the effect of corporate bankruptcy on consumer demand for a bankrupt firm’s products. We …
Good morning. It is great to join the Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) today. As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or Securities and Exchange Commission
Gathering additional information is an instinctive response to uncertainty. This behavior is found in many settings, perhaps most pervasively in capital markets. For example, if investors observe an earnings number that differs from what they expected, they might seek to …
Thank you, Rich (Repetto), for that kind introduction. It is good to be with you again. As is customary, I’d like to note my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the
In March 2022, the SEC proposed rules (the “Proposed Rules”) that, if adopted, will require public companies to include extensive climate-related disclosures in their periodic reports.[1] According to the SEC, this disclosure will help investors “make informed judgments about …
On May 16, 2022, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament published a draft report on the European Commission’s proposal for review of AIFMD. We previously reported on the Commission’s proposal at the end of …
An extensive body of literature that spans accounting, corporate finance, management, and other adjacent disciplines examines the relationship between senior executives’ contractual incentives (e.g., bonus plans, stock and option holdings) and various properties of their firms’ financial reporting and disclosures. …
The upcoming Universal Proxy Card (UPC) presents activist investors with only one potentially significant new burden: solicit two-thirds of the shares in a proxy contest at a portfolio company. Everything else in the new rule, including the new proxy card …
Almost 30 years after the American Law Institute published the Principles of Corporate Governance, it has launched an effort covering similar ground, this time promising a Restatement of the Law of Corporate Governance.
The difference between the Principles…
While recent gyrations in cryptoasset markets have focused attention on the future contours of stablecoins, market-making, and impending regulation, another feature of the blockchain landscape is also confronting noteworthy challenges. Specifically, a new breed of business organization has emerged …
To what extent do directors care about financial reporting? Prior research provides some evidence that financial reporting quality is important to boards and that financial misreporting influences their executive retention decisions. For example, the public revelation of past financial reporting …
Good afternoon. I’m Matt Olsen and I am the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the United States Department of Justice.
I’m very pleased to be here at CyCon. Thank you to Lucas for moderating this panel, to my
How can shareholders hold directors accountable for paying insufficient attention to the broader interests of society? In the past few years, several ESG issues have become a source of major risk for companies and their shareholders. Even if the behavior …
What is the right governance framework for a public company? This question sits at the core of decades of empirical and theoretical research, and yet we still lack consensus on an answer. In particular, agency-cost essentialists support governance structures that …