Sky Blog
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a three-part mission: to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. SEC investigations and enforcement actions play a critical role in carrying out each of these objectives. …
In a recent article[1] I explore the history of the law of corporate purpose, a subject recently highlighted by the Business Roundtable’s “Statement of the Purpose of a Corporation.” This August 19 statement was signed by more than 180 …
Financial reports can be opaque, complex, and difficult to understand. As far back as 1998, this was the premise behind the SEC’s Plain English Rule: an unsuccessful attempt to encourage firms to write more readable financial reports. In a new …
On November 26, 2019, New York Stock Exchange LLC (“NYSE”) filed notice of a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission to modify its listing rules relating to direct listings. The proposed rule change would allow companies to …
Following Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings and other Delaware cases that have reinforced the standards that stockholder suits must meet to survive dismissal, would-be litigants have increasingly invoked Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporate Law (“Section 220”) to try …
Recent regulatory reforms in advanced economies have empowered shareholders by letting them vote on executive compensation, corporate transactions, changes to the corporate charter, and social and environmental proposals. This shift of power from boards to shareholders assumes that shareholder voting …
In response to the sharp increase in campaigns by activist hedge funds in France and Europe generally, a French commission has conducted an extensive investigation and issued a carefully researched, reasonable and balanced report recommending regulatory and procedural changes to …
In a forthcoming paper, we explore the stock prices of companies during the period just before to just after an announcement that they have been hit with a computer breach. We analyze all available public equity data by breach type …
Directors of a Delaware corporation must act in the best interest of the corporation and its shareholders.[1] Other stakeholders – such as employees, creditors, customers, and suppliers – may only be considered by directors to the extent there …
Theoretical and empirical research on shareholder voting has provided many exciting insights and guidance for debates on policy and regulation. The default assumption, though, is that shareholders have strong incentives to vote for alternatives that they think are best for …
In corporate law, the U.S. academic elite stubbornly clings to shareholder primacy as the foundational principle of the field. The concept is simple, even elegant: Shareholders should be given ultimate control of the corporation because they are entitled to the …
There are many sources of information about corporate operations, but one of the most critical is the disclosure required by the federal securities laws. Whenever a company seeks to raise capital through the public sale of securities, the U.S. Securities …
In recent years, large asset managers have reached incredible sizes, managing trillions of dollars of assets on behalf of tens of millions of clients. The largest three – BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street – taken together (the “Big Three”), vote …
Until recently, the dialogue on corporate governance has focused almost exclusively on how to increase the ability of shareholders to impose their will on corporations. Shareholder groups, advisory firms and academics continually developed and added to a set of “best …
Women are starkly underrepresented on corporate boards and more generally in leadership positions. Hillary Clinton’s U.S. presidential campaign and movements like #MeToo have recently attracted lots of attention to gender equality issues. As a result, biases, stereotypes, and female under-representation …
The advent of the “shareholder rights plan,” more popularly known as the “poison pill,” fundamentally altered the trajectory of American corporate governance. Intended to defend vulnerable boards from corporate raiders, the poison pill was embraced by U.S. managers in the …
Today, I will talk about the proxy process. But, before I segue into any substance, this is a good time for me to provide my first standard disclaimer: My views and remarks are my own, and do not necessarily represent …
On December 9, 2002, UAL Corporation, which operated as United Airlines, filed for bankruptcy protection, leading to huge losses by UAL’s creditors. Those creditors included UAL’s pensioners when UAL’s pension plans were terminated and taken over by the Pension Benefit …
Shareholder litigation is an important way for shareholders to affect corporate governance. Legal protection of shareholders can mitigate agency problems that arise from the separation of ownership and control. In particular, litigation enables shareholders to deter and find remedies for …
Innovation is the primary engine of growth in economies at the technological frontier, and a path to higher profits and growth for individual companies, as the likes of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon make clear. CEOs play a crucial role …