Sky Blog
In a networked and digital age, we need to rethink the structure of the modern corporation. In order to survive and grow, corporations must operate with a new set of assumptions and principles in order to remain relevant, competitive, and …
An estimate by John B. Henry in the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel (February 2008, p. 28) suggests that the annual direct litigation cost of Fortune 500 companies was a whopping $210 billion in 2006, i.e., about one-third of their after-tax profits …
The term “corporate governance”, while now ubiquitous, was largely unknown in the U.S. until the 1970s and the rest of world until the 1990s. There has been little research done on why corporate governance rose to prominence when it did…
Delaware dominates the incorporation market, with approximately 60% of publicly traded companies in the United States incorporated there, including 63% of the Fortune 500 companies. Over 90% of companies that incorporate outside of their principal state of operations make Delaware …
If you think nothing is impossible, try slamming the revolving door of Washington. Despite widespread frustrations, it continues to shuffle employees between government and corporate jobs, and it’s not expected to stop spinning any time soon.
Many on the street …
In response to perceived corporate governance shortcomings in major U.S. corporations, the U.S. Department of Justice, starting in 2002, substantially increased the execution of non- and deferred prosecution agreements (N/DPAs). High profile N/DPAs and plea agreements executed in 2012 and …
Emerging markets are increasingly important destinations for international capital flows. Yet these markets pose important risks for investors, in addition to the business risks present in every market. For example, in some countries, many public firms are part of family …
In recent years, corporate bond markets have become an increasingly important source of corporate finance, especially for non-financial companies. Given this worldwide trend, it is crucial for policy makers, regulators and market participants to have access to a comprehensive overview …
Our manuscript titled “The impact of governance mandates on the evolution of firm value and governance culture” contributes to the growing literature that uses quasi-exogenous shocks to equilibrium governance practices to examine important firm outcomes. We specifically examine …
Due to a recent Delaware Chancery Court ruling,[1] the topic of director compensation currently is facing an uncharacteristic turn in the spotlight. Though it receives relatively little attention compared to its higher-profile cousin—executive compensation— director compensation can be a difficult
On November 3, 2014, the board of directors of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded internet-service provider incorporated in Delaware, amended Cogent’s bylaws to include two new provisions. One was a forum-selection provision designating Delaware as the exclusive forum …
In a recent post, Some Lessons from DuPont-Trian, Martin Lipton identified shareholder voting in a proxy contest as a problem with hedge fund activism. According to Mr. Lipton, “ISS and major institutional investors will be responsive to and support …
Legions of people have learned valuable lessons from Warren Buffett about investing; his $375 billion Berkshire Hathaway last month celebrated its 50th anniversary under his leadership. But Buffett’s and Berkshire’s lessons about corporate administration have been ignored, although they …
On May 12 and June 11, 2015, the Delaware Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, passed a bill (the “Bill”)[1] that would amend Title 8 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) to prohibit Delaware stock corporations from including …
Despite losing several high-profile cases, the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission (SEC) has committed itself to prosecuting insider trading, outlawed by a patchwork of rule-making and court decisions. In recent years, the SEC has filed record-numbers of insider trading actions, …
We recently published a paper on lessons that for-profit and nonprofit directors can learn from one another about improving organizational governance. The full paper is available here.
For-profit and nonprofit organizations exist for different reasons: for-profits to generate a …
It has long been assumed that shareholders’ rights in the United States diminished considerably through the 20th century as a result of a competition among states to attract and retain corporations. More recently, various commentators have disputed the significance …
Among practitioners, it is a customary cliché to say that all proxy contests—just like all trials—are unique and idiosyncratic. There is some truth to that easy generalization, but it also misses the forest for the trees. Some obvious truths stand …
How does corporate law matter? My recent paper suggests that the main impact of corporate law is not in imposing sanctions, but rather in producing information. The process of litigation or regulatory investigations produces information on the behavior of defendant …
The Delaware State Senate passed legislation on May 12th that will preclude “loser pays” fee shifting by bylaw or charter provision—sometimes. The Delaware House is expected to act sometime in June. But the pending legislation only bars such fee-shifting …