In 2006, David Zucker, chief executive officer of Midway Games, came under fire for selling a significant amount of Midway stock just weeks before a precipitous decline in the company's share price. One year later, Angelo Mozilo, chairman and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial,...

In 2007, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) was the largest proxy advisory company in the world, with over 1,700 institutional clients managing an estimated $25 trillion in equity securities. The ISS proxy advisory services were intended to give shareholders greater influence over the...

In 2005, Relational Investors, a registered investment advisor, launched a proxy contest to gain two seats on the board of directors of Sovereign Bancorp. Relational accused Sovereign of operational mismanagement and poor corporate governance, representing a breach in fiduciary responsibility by...

We examine CEO turnover and succession planning using a unique and highly comprehensive data set from the company exechange. Exechange applies a novel methodology that evaluates the circumstances surrounding a CEO departure to determine the degree to which the turnover event might be voluntary...

ESG ratings firms provide information to investors, analysts, and corporate managers about the relation between corporations and non-investor stakeholders interests. Recently, ESG ratings providers have come under scrutiny over concerns of the reliability of their assessments. In this Closer...

In this Closer Look, we use the example of VICI Properties—a publicly traded REIT that emerged from the bankruptcy of Caesar’s Entertainment—to examine how appropriate governance choices can change the course of a corporation and establish a foundation for long-term success. We discuss the...

In this Closer Look, we consider current trends in shareholder activism and their potential impact. We examine the introduction of universal proxies, the increase in “activism experience” among directors, and the changing strategies of activists. With the regulatory and market environments...

In this Closer Look, we examine individual investor perception of ESG to gauge their concern for environmental and social issues, their view of whether fund managers should use their voting power to influence ESG practices, and their willingness to sacrifice return in the advancement of ESG...

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger is well known as the partner of CEO Warren Buffett and also for his advocacy of “multi-disciplinary thinking” — the application of fundamental concepts from across various academic disciplines to solve complex real-world problems. One problem...