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Institutional Investor (December 19)

2023/ 12/ 20 by jd in Global News

Investors and CEOs using their power to change the world around them provides the best hope for restoring value-creating potential to relationships between public companies and asset owners. But it may not be good enough. Investors and companies that seek to remain in public markets and derive value from their relationships will need ways to find each other in the masses of intermediaries between them, special tools for using this approach, and plans for navigating the inevitable collisions with short-term activists.”

 

The Economist (July 10)

2023/ 07/ 10 by jd in Global News

“Remote work has a target on its back.” Many CEOs “are intent on making working from home a relic of the pandemic…. With bosses clamping down on the practice, the pandemic-era days of mutual agreement on the desirability of remote work seem to be over.” Around the globe, “plans for remote working by employers fall short of what workers want.”

 

Institutional Investor (October 3)

2022/ 10/ 04 by jd in Global News

“Two and half years after the beginning of the pandemic — and the mass migration into remote work — some of the biggest asset managers have decided that it’s finally time to get back to the office.” While a range of plans are being prepared, CEOs seem to be favoring the “3-2 model” with three office days and two remote days. “Besides concerns over corporate culture and employee burnout, decision-makers in the asset management industry also cited better innovations, teamwork, and apprenticeship as reasons for returning to the office.”

 

Reuters (January 2)

2020/ 01/ 02 by jd in Global News

“CEOs increasingly talk a good game on climate change, but the financial implications of global warming have played a small role in dealmaking so far. That will change in the year ahead.”

 

Wall Street Journal (November 4)

2019/ 11/ 06 by jd in Global News

“Humble CEOs don’t inspire much confidence among financial analysts—but that might be good news for people who invest in the CEOs’ companies.” According to a recent study, “analysts tend to significantly underestimate the earnings potential of companies run by humble chief executive officers. That leads to artificially low earnings forecasts from the analysts, which the firms can then more easily meet or beat.” On average, this “humble discount” results “in at least a 7% increase in total shareholder returns annually.”

 

New York Times (August 20)

2019/ 08/ 21 by jd in Global News

“Nearly 200 chief executives, including the leaders of Apple, Pepsi and Walmart, tried on Monday to redefine the role of business in society—and how companies are perceived by an increasingly skeptical public.” The new inclusiveness of multiple stakeholders sounds appealing. Still, “for companies to truly make good on their lofty promises, they will need Wall Street to embrace their idealism, too. Until investors start measuring companies by their social impact instead of their quarterly returns, systemic change may prove elusive.”

 

Wall Street Journal (May 11)

2019/ 05/ 13 by jd in Global News

The tariff spat with China “is a political trade risk the economy hasn’t faced since the 1930s, and no one knows where it might end.” Although there “will be many economic losers,” including U.S. farmers who are getting hit hard, “the broader cost is a continuation of policy uncertainty, as CEOs and investors can’t be sure about their supply chains, their cost of goods and raw material, or how long the tariff brawl will last.” Ultimately, “the impact on GDP is hard to calculate but it’s real.”

 

Institutional Investor (January 16)

2018/ 01/ 18 by jd in Global News

“BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has written a letter to CEOs detailing his requests for corporate stewardship as the firm moves toward shareholder activism year-round…. The letter is the latest move by an asset manager to focus more on shareholder activism and environmental, social and governance criteria in investments. For instance, BlackRock competitor Vanguard Group said in an August report that it is taking a more active approach to monitoring companies in its portfolio, while a McKinsey & Co. study published in October found that asset managers no longer consider ESG a niche strategy.”

 

Fortune (January 4)

2018/ 01/ 05 by jd in Global News

“By the end of the first three working days of the year, the U.K.’s top bosses will each have earned on average as much as a typical worker will take home in all of 2018, according to a report. While the difference in compensation appears stark, it narrowed slightly compared with the previous year.” Studies show “earnings for CEOs in the U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 dropped by a fifth in 2016 to 4.5 million pounds ($5.4 million)” and that the CEO-to-worker pay ratio stood at around 120 to 1, much lower than the 347 to 1 of S&P 500 companies.

 

Wall Street Journal (May 17)

2017/ 05/ 19 by jd in Global News

“Activist investors, a perennial nuisance for chief executives, are becoming an existential threat. Since January, they have helped push out the leaders of three high-profile S&P 500 companies” (AIG, CSX Corp. and Arconic Inc.). Moreover, “they are gunning for the CEOs at other companies,” such as Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. and Avon Products Inc. “So far in 2017, activists have started nine campaigns targeting top management, the fastest pace on record.”

 

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