New York Times (August 16)
“States have been competing for corporate charters since the late 1800s. The incentives are high: About 30 percent of Delaware’s revenue in 2024 came from franchise taxes.” But Texas has taken things to a new low, with recent legislation creating “a wild west for corporate governance” by helping corporations dodge proxy access. “Corporations incorporated or headquartered in Texas can restrict shareholder proposals to only their largest shareholders… owning at least $1 million in stock or 3 percent of the company.” Texas is also trying to muffle proxy advisors with measures that effectively block them “from siding against management on any shareholder proposal.”
Tags: Corporate charters, Corporate governance, Corporations, Delaware, Legislation, Muffle, Proxy access, Proxy advisors, Restrict, Shareholder proposals, Texas, Wild west
New York Times (August 13)
“Not content to steer the ship of state, our president apparently wants to run the ship of commerce, too. Literally. The entire Fortune 500.” President Trump thinks “he is the C.E.O. of Everything…. In ripping up numerous business regulations, Donald Trump seems intent on replacing them with himself.” This “is bad for corporations, consumers and capitalism. Please just run the executive branch, Mr. President, and let real executives run the businesses of America.”
Tags: Bad, Business regulations, C.E.O. of Everything, Capitalism, Commerce, Consumers, Content, Corporations, Executives, Fortune 500, Ship of state, Trump
Minnesota Star Tribune (May 21)
“The world changed” in 2020 when “a police officer murdered George Floyd on a Minneapolis street corner.” Corporations put money and muscle into doing things better. In 2025, however, “a national backlash has slammed the brakes on investments aimed at improving deep-seated socioeconomic disparities…. President Donald Trump issued executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the public and private sectors.” U.S. corporations fell in line “by stepping back their public-facing efforts.”
Tags: Backlash, Banning, Corporations, Deep-seated, DEI, Executive orders, Floyd, Investments, Minneapolis, Money, Murdered, Police, Socioeconomic disparities, Trump, U.S.
Financial Times (February 15)
“As OpenAI enters its year of rapid growth, questions about the long-term viability of its business model remain.” Despite such grandiose goals as accelerating “global productivity and economic growth,” corporations are struggling “to figure out how to integrate generative AI into their processes, or estimate what kinds of cost and productivity benefits it might bring.”
Tags: Benefits, Business model, Corporations, Cost, Economic growth, Generative AI, Global productivity, Grandiose, Growth, OpenAI, Processes, Struggling, Viability
Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (September 18)
ESG “is not a unitary principle or even a collection of a fixed set of particular principles. Rather, ESG encapsulates the range of risks that all corporations must carefully balance, taking into account their specific circumstances, in seeking to achieve long-term, sustainable value.” The ESG label may be new, but “corporate boards and management have long considered ESG factors and risks in setting and executing strategy…. Doing so is associated with superior financial results, and consistent with long-accepted norms as to the place of business in society.”
Tags: Balance, Boards, Circumstances, Corporations, ESG, Financial results, Fixed, Management, Principle, Range, Risks, Society, Strategy, Sustainable, Value
Fortune (August 19)
“Given the immense power large companies exercise in society, the new social consciousness of business surely should be seen as a step in the right direction. At a time when the nation’s political leadership is tied in knots…business leadership is filling the leadership vacuum.” The Business Roundtable, which always prioritized shareholders, “has redefined its mission” to include all stakeholders. In fact, shareholders aren’t even mentioned until word 250 of the 300-word Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.
Tags: Business, Business Roundtable, Corporations, Leadership, Mission, Power, Shareholders, Social consciousness, Stakeholders
Economist (October 1)
“Globalisation’s critics say it benefits only the elite. In fact, a less open world would hurt the poor most of all…. There is a world of difference between improving globalisation and reversing it. The idea that globalisation is a scam that benefits only corporations and the rich could scarcely be more wrong.”
Tags: Benefits, Corporations, Critics, Elite, Globalization, Poor, Rich, Scam
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 (September 19)
“Corporate profits more than tripled in 1980-2013, rising from 7.6% of global GDP to 10%, of which Western companies captured more than two-thirds. The after-tax profits of American firms are at their highest level as a share of national income since 1929.” Yet a recent study suggests “the golden age of the Western corporation may be coming to an end.” The McKinsey Global Institute projects “that corporate profits may fall from 10% of global GDP to about 8% in a decade’s time.”
New York Times (July 1)
“Sometimes the bottom line matches the common good.” In the U.S., corporations are increasingly taking the lead as “agents of what’s practical, wise and even right.” The companies are interested in ensuring “that laws and local customs don’t prevent them from attracting and retaining the best work force” as they seek to strengthen their brands. These self-interested efforts “have produced compelling recent examples of companies showing greater sensitivity to diversity, social justice and the changing tides of public sentiment than lawmakers often manage to.”
Tags: Bottom line, Common good, Corporations, Diversity, Lawmakers, Laws, Right, Social justice, U.S., Work force
