Financial Times (August 3)
“Companies denied votes on a record number of resolutions during this proxy season after US regulators made it harder for shareholders to demand changes related to climate, diversity and labour rights.” As a result, the number of shareholder proposals is down from last year. “ISS-Corporate found that 21 per cent of environmental and social proposals were omitted this year, compared with only 9 per cent last year.” The SEC granted nearly a third more “no-action” requests, which allow companies to omit shareholder proposals from proxy materials.
Tags: Climate, Companies, Denied, Diversity, Environmental, ISS, Labour rights, Proxy season, Regulators, Resolutions, SEC, Shareholder proposals, Social, U.S., Votes
Wall Street Journal (May 11)
“In the midst of what many expect to be the most toxic presidential campaign in modern history, American businesses are going to extraordinary lengths to stay off the political radar.” In 2020, business leaders felt “they couldn’t afford to stay silent on social and political issues. In 2024, many hope to take a quieter approach.”
Tags: 2020, 2024, Afford, Businesses, Leaders, Political issues, Political radar, Presidential campaign, Quieter, Silent, Social, Toxic, U.S.
New York Times (August 17)
“The political fight over environmental, social and governance investing continues in corporate America,” though opponents appear to be “making little headway in the boardroom.” During the first six months of 2023, Morningstar “tracked 43 anti-E.S.G. shareholder proposals,” finding that “on average they received only 7 percent support, compared with more than 30 percent across all proposals.”
Tags: 2023, Anti-E.S.G., Boardroom, Environmental, Governance, Headway, Investing, Morningstar, Political fight, Shareholder proposals, Social, U.S.
Institutional Investor (September 23)
“The pushback against environmental, social, and governance investing by red state politicians isn’t yet slowing down many asset managers’ expansions into strategies that have been among the most popular in recent years.” There is “no doubt the anti-ESG movement is gaining traction and could disrupt the industry,” but it’s still “business as usual” for “many global managers targeting investors in the U.S.”
Tags: Anti-ESG movement, Asset managers, Disrupt, Environmental, Governance, Investing, Investors, Politicians, Popular, Pushback, Red state, Social, Strategies, Targeting, Traction
New York Times (September 10)
“The queen’s death last week, at 96, is a genuinely traumatic event, leaving many in this stoic country anxious and unmoored. As they come to terms with the loss of a figure who embodied Britain, they are unsure of their nation’s identity, its economic and social well-being, or even its role in the world.”
Tags: 96, Anxious, Britain, Death, Economic, Embodied, Identity, Loss, Queen, Social, Stoic, Traumatic, Unmoored, Unsure
Wall Street Journal (September 6)
Numerous states have warned the “Big Three” asset managers (BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street) that their ESG policies appear to run counter to “the sole interest rule, a well-established legal principle. The sole interest rule requires investment fiduciaries to act to maximize financial returns, not to promote social or political objectives.”
Tags: “Big Three”, Asset managers, BlackRock, ESG, Fiduciaries, Financial returns, Investment, Maximize, Political, Social, Sole interest rule, State Street, States, U.S., Vanguard, Warned
WARC (March Issue)
“The cost of search, social and retail media advertising grew by double digits in the final three months of 2021…. Search cost-per-click (CPC) saw the largest rise, increasing by 23% year on year to $0.71 in Q4 2021.” Moreover, the trend in rising “advertising spend and costs looks likely to continue in 2022.”
Tags: 2021, 2022, Advertising, Cost, CPC, Double digits, Media, Q4, Retail, Search, Social, Spend, Trend
Institutional Investor (September 9)
“The pandemic has made Europe’s top executives smarter… and humbler. From supply-chain issues to unforeseen social and cultural hurdles, business leaders in Europe and around the world have learned hard and valuable lessons over the last two years.”
Tags: Business, Cultural, Europe, Humbler, Hurdles, Leaders, Pandemic, Smarter, Social, Supply chain, Unforeseen
Seattle Times (July 1)
“And on the 476th day, Washington returned—sort of, mostly, cautiously, officially if not practically—to normal.” COVID-19 related restrictions began across the state on March 11, 2020. “One year, three months, two weeks and five days later, the last of those major restrictions melted away on Wednesday.” It’s not as easy as flipping a switch. COVID-19 and government-issued restrictions effectively “pulled the emergency brake on Washington’s economic and social life.” It is going to “take more than just releasing that lever to get the engine back to full throttle.”
Tags: 476 days, Brake, COVID-19, Economic, Emergency, Government, Life, Normal, Restrictions, Social, Washington
US News & World Report (April 6)
The Covid-19 pandemic has “exposed gaping cracks in our social, political and economic systems. The most pervasive of those cracks is discrimination against women, which persists in every country in the world.” But the pandemic might also “be the watershed we need to upend the systems that hold girls and women back. It brings a chance to make health care and education truly universal, to improve conditions and pay for millions, and to strengthen safety nets.”
Tags: COVID-19, Cracks, Discrimination, Economic, Education, Health care, Pandemic, Social, Upend, Watershed, Women
