South China Morning Post (July 2)
“Hong Kong has entered uncharted waters in terms of protest chaos and violence, with the storming and takeover of the Legislative Council building by mostly young activists opposing the now-suspended extradition bill.” A “fundamental rethink” by the government’s strategy is essential “to end the violence and move the city forward.” Ultimately, “cool heads must prevail to avoid further clashes and damage to both public property and the city’s reputation.”
Tags: Activists, Chaos, Clashes, Damage, Extradition bill, Government, Hong Kong, Legislative Council, Property, Protest, Rethink, Uncharted waters, Violence
Newsweek (June 4)
Thirty years ago, “the brutal scenes of troops from the People’s Liberation Army firing live ammunition on civilians peaceably calling for political reforms at Tiananmen Square shocked the world.” The outside world’s response was largely based on the prevailing wisdom that economic development supports human rights. Today, “you’d be hard pressed to find any serious analysts who still believe economic prosperity has led to a more liberated China. Instead, China has been emboldened to infringe on the rights of its own people at home and abroad, cracking down on burgeoning civil society and activists, and undermining international human rights institutions as a means of subjecting its people under its control.”
Tags: Activists, Brutal, China, Civilians, Economic development, Emboldened, Human rights, Infringe, PLA, Political reforms, Tiananmen Square, Troops
Wall Street Journal (June 2)
“Climate-change activists are relentless, and in recent years they’ve been trying to take over corporate boardrooms. So it was good to see shareholders last week overwhelmingly vote down resolutions forcing Chevron and Exxon Mobil to hurt their business.”
Tags: Activists, Boardrooms, Chevron, Climate change, Exxon Mobil, Relentless, Resolutions, Shareholders, Vote
Institutional Investor (May 4)
With an unexpected turn, the Icahn-Xerox battle has grown even uglier. “After surrendering their jobs to a ‘gloating’ Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, Xerox’s leadership defies the activists and hangs on — for now.” Where the chips will ultimately fall is now highly uncertain.
Tags: Activists, Battle, Deason, Icahn, Leadership, Uncertain, Unexpected, Xerox
Bloomberg (December 24)
“Some climate activists worry that Donald Trump’s presidential election will be the death knell for the global environment. That’s almost certainly untrue. Whatever Trump’s attitude toward climate science and energy policy, two big outside factors will be much more important — technological progress and policy in developing nations.
Tags: Activists, Climate, Developing nations, Election, Energy, Environment, Policy, Science, Technological progress, Trump
Reuters (October 27)
AT&T’s $85 billion “offer for Time Warner lacks strategic rationale, has politicians of all stripes criticizing it and has destroyed shareholder value while denying owners a vote. All it lacks–so far–is an activist shareholder demanding it be scrapped.”
Institutional Investor (June 16)
“Short-termism, often driven by activists, can have grave implications for corporations, for our economy and sometimes for society overall. Innovation, discovery and hiring are curtailed when R&D projects are put on hold or cancelled because of short-term pressures…. Short-termism also leads to mispricing, misallocation of assets and a lack of reliable information about long-term prospects.”
Tags: Activists, Assets, Corporations, Discovery, Economy, Hiring, Innovation, Misallocation, Mispricing, Prospects, R&D, Short-termism, Society
The Economist (February 7)
“Despite their flaws and excesses, activists are a force for good.” These investors “are often loathed by public-company bosses for their belligerence and opportunism. But the bosses are wrong. Activists are in fact the public company’s unlikely saviours.” Activist investors “fill a governance void that afflicts today’s public companies,” which are increasingly held by passive investors. They wake “lazy investors” up with their activist complaints, making “it harder for investors to stay on the sidelines.”
Tags: Activists, Excesses, Flaws, Governance, Investors, Opportunism, Passive investors
Financial Times (December 8)
“Greater shareholder engagement with quoted companies has been one of the key themes in corporate governance to emerge since the financial crisis” and underpins the UK’s stewardship code for institutional investors. In the U.S. as well, there has been a “recent upsurge in activist investing,” along with “growing demands by long-term institutions for greater input.” This creates potential for progress. “It can only be good that shareholders take an active interest in the businesses in which they invest.”
Tags: Activists, Corporate governance, Engagement, Financial Crisis, Institutional investors, Shareholders, Stewardship code, U.S., UK
The Economist (February 15, 2014)
“Rule changes have made activism easier and therefore more commonplace. Nor is it restricted to America: shareholder activism is gaining in popularity around the world, in places such as Japan and continental Europe, where it was once unknown.” While there are instances where activists cause damage in pursuit of short-term gains, “recent academic studies suggest that, by and large, activists are good for companies. An analysis of around 2,000 interventions in America during 1994-2007 found not only that the share prices and operating performance of the firms involved improved over the five years after the intervention, but also that the improvement was greatest towards the end of the five-year period.”
Tags: Activists, Europe, Improvement, Japan, Performance, Popularity, Rules, Share prices, Shareholders, Short-term gains
