The rise of private markets and the proliferation of “unicorns” (private startup companies valued at $1 billion or more) has diminished the SEC’s power and reach. Back in 2021, the agency signaled a plan to reassert itself by forcing unicorns …

High CEO pay in the United States has fueled repeated calls for enhanced disclosure of chief executives’ compensation. For example, in 2015 the SEC received over 285,000 comment letters supporting its proposed rule to require disclosure of CEO-employee pay ratios. …

Environmental and social (E&S) considerations have become integral to investment decisions in the past two decades, and more public firms are making E&S disclosures. Meanwhile, dozens of ESG reporting frameworks have emerged, and many jurisdictions have issued or are in …

Earnings conference calls are an important way for firms to communicate with external stakeholders. Equity shareholders, buy-side and sell-side analysts, debtholders, and other capital market participants view the calls as informative beyond the contemporaneous earnings announcements. Yet, little is known …

Fueled by the landmark decision in Citizens United, which granted corporations essentially the same political speech rights as humans, corporations continually attempt to control political outcomes, ostensibly to promote shareholder value.[1]  During the 2022 election cycle, corporations and business …

Corporate disclosures increasingly include multimedia content such as audio, images, and videos. In fact, as of 2022, 83 percent of U.S. public firms used graphics in annual reports and various other communications. Additionally, companies commonly provide their earnings calls, shareholder …

Financial markets and securities regulation in the European Union and the United States are converging in an increasing number of areas, from the repression of market manipulation to the provision of stricter requirements for market gatekeepers, such as auditing firms …

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) is considering proposals that would require public companies to disclose reliable and complete information about the risks of climate change.  The Commission’s efforts will fall short, however, unless it addresses the role …

In a recent paper, we examine the real effects of disclosure in going private transactions.  The number of companies going private has been steadily increasing over the past decade, with a sharp rise during the last couple of years. This …

Share buybacks have returned with a vengeance following the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] The average proportion of buybacks out of aggregate shareholder payouts in 2019-2021 was higher than the historical average during 2005-2019 in the U.S. and Europe.[2] These developments …

The SEC has proposed mandating climate disclosure to meet investor demand for information about the environmental risks firms face and managers’ plans to mitigate their firms’ environmental impacts.  Yet critics worry that the proposed mandate would increase risks of litigation …

Studies have shown that the disclosure of information can affect a company’s technological innovation in different ways, depending on how complete or timely it is. The complete disclosure can promote innovation by making capital providers more receptive to providing financing, …