Sky Blog
Private equity has historically operated within a governance environment in which external capital-market scrutiny largely constrained sponsor behavior. In particular, credible “exit” events, such as initial public offerings or sales to genuinely independent acquirers, have served as recurring moments of …
In January 2025, Target Corporation quietly dismantled the DEI infrastructure it had built in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. There was no press release and no acknowledgment of retreat. Within weeks, other public companies followed. Yet Costco made the …
Delaware corporate law demands neither omniscience nor infallibility from directors, but rather a good-faith effort. The Delaware Court of Chancery reaffirmed that principle yesterday in a decision dismissing claims that current and former directors of Boeing breached their oversight duty …
Institutional investors’ rising ownership of publicly traded shares and its implications for corporate governance have prompted scrutiny in both the United States and Australia. In the U.S., shares are increasingly in the hands of the Big Three index funds: BlackRock, …
Can the method of making a share repurchase create a regulatory and governance paradox? In this article, we argue that it can. One increasingly popular mechanism, the accelerated share repurchase (ASR), can at sufficient scale, distort market prices, force the …
Artificial intelligence at work is not merely a productivity story; it is a governance stress test. Unlike earlier waves of automation, which displaced routine, codifiable tasks, contemporary AI reaches into nonroutine, judgment-heavy work—drafting, summarizing, scheduling, retrieving information, maintaining code—the cognitive …
Principles and practices of good corporate governance offer a potentially powerful way to manage uncertainty that is often unrealized. Boards allocate capital based on probabilistic assessments of outcomes they often cannot control. Risk committees price scenarios that may never materialize. …
In resolving a significant issue of first impression, the Delaware Court of Chancery held today that directors of public benefit corporations approving a change-of-control transaction are not required to maximize stockholder value. Drakes Landing Assocs., L.P. v. Tilden Park Cap. …
Governments around the world are rediscovering ownership as an instrument of economic policy. From Washington’s industrial policy and Beijing’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to sovereign wealth funds across Asia, states are increasingly acting not merely as regulators but as strategic shareholders. …
In 2023, an open-source project for managing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) on Ethereum became embroiled in a dispute that raised legal and governance questions for digital assets and decentralized technology. The protocol, called Aragon, had structural traits that are common …
Corporate law gives corporations the ability to own assets, enter contracts, raise funding, and operate at scale. The central commitment corporations make in return is to act lawfully. Yet when violations of the law are hard to detect and penalties …
Boards are under pressure to become more diverse, but diversity is often measured at a particular moment rather than over time. Missing is any attempt to determine whether the board is renewing itself. In a new paper, we study …
On May 5, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments that would permit U.S. domestic issuers to file financial reports semiannually rather than quarterly. Under the proposal, the choice would rest with the firm alone—that is, with its board …
Much of the law governing corporate artificial intelligence rests on a single premise: that the a company’s protection against legal liability depends on the quality of the record it can produce. Directors defend oversight claims with minutes and charters. Issuers …
For a century, Delaware has dominated American corporate law by securing incorporations from most public companies. This market share made Delaware law a common language among American business lawyers and law professors. Outsize attention to Delaware leaves other states, like …
If there are two hegemonic ideas in academic corporate over the past half century, they are that corporate governance is defined by the “principal-agent” model and that the corporation is in essence a “nexus of contracts.” These ideas are the …
Assurance providers, a type of green gatekeeper, certify the accuracy of sustainability information. In a new paper, we analyze the market for assurance services, asking whether they should be regulated and, if so, how.
Assurance providers do with sustainability-related …
Boards often clear a related-party transaction once it has been disclosed, reviewed, and priced on fair terms. In a recent article, we suggest that this may not be enough. The same transaction can be a sensible business arrangement under one …
Contrary to the popular narrative, leading firms, supported by overwhelming shareholder majorities, have maintained their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The reason is simple—inclusive practices improve corporate governance.
Literature from finance, management, sociology, and psychology illustrates that both …
In a new paper, I offer three interpretations of stakeholder theory—one economic, one philosophical, and one political.
Traditional principles of corporate law require directors to manage the corporation for the benefit of its shareholders. Stakeholder …