Mahony Partners

Tag: corporate governance

12
Jun
2024

Election Day for Elon Musk

Categories: Taking & Managing Risk
Tomorrow is election day for Elon Musk. Tesla shareholders will vote on whether to re-approve his 2018 pay package (valued at $46 billion) after it was rejected by a Delaware court in a shareholder lawsuit. The outcome is hard to call, but it could have an impact on not just Tesla but corporate governance practices across corporate America. Although the focus is on Musk’s eye-popping payday, it’s the role of the Tesla chair, Robyn Denholm, that is far more interesting for what it reveals about the role of the board as a guardi... Read More
16
Sep
2021

Trashing the CEO Succession Plan

Categories: Financial Services
Company boards spend a good deal of time, as they should, planning for who’ll take over for the CEO. Most have a relatively short list of senior executives who are being groomed and evaluated for the job. You know if you’re on that list and where you rank, and there’s generally a set timeline for the CEO’s exit. So it must have come as an unwelcome surprise to those executives at J.P. Morgan when the board awarded CEO Jamie Dimon a special retention bonus and signaled they’d like him to stay for “a further significant number of years.” The move suggests the board believes none of ... Read More
03
Sep
2020

The SPAC is Back

Categories: Financial Services, Taking & Managing Risk
When the investment story of 2020 is written, it will be a thick volume - a global pandemic, an uncanny rebound in stocks and aggressive interventions by the Fed. But there will also be a chapter on the return of the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), a deal structure last seen about a decade ago that is enjoying new popularity. More than $30 billion has been raised in SPAC offerings so far this year, with more expected in the fourth quarter. Several factors are driving the growth - an abundance of highly valued private companies, investors hungry for returns in a world of l... Read More
21
Jul
2020

Get Ready for the Executive Pay Backlash

Categories: Financial Services
History has a way of repeating itself, particularly in finance. In the last financial crisis a dozen years ago, banks received taxpayer-backed bailouts and paid hefty bonuses to their executives. The uproar was loud and lasting. Now Wall Street seems poised for a repeat, after a massive federal coronavirus stimulus and a liquidity jolt from the Fed fattened the banks’ bottom lines and their bonus reserves. Three big banks – Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley – boosted compensation expense by a third, according to their earnings reports last week. One big difference between this crisis and the last is that federal relief has been spread across many industries, not just banking.... Read More
23
Oct
2019

US Companies are starting to take climate disclosure seriously

Categories: Climate Change, Taking & Managing Risk
More US companies are preparing to disclose their climate-related financial risks, but they face challenges to measure these risks and integrate them in their financial reporting. These were among the findings of a new report that explores the extent to which US companies have adopted the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).  The report (“The State of Climate Risk Disclosure: A Survey of US Companies”) includes results f... Read More
11
Jun
2019

Investors Weigh the Limits of Voluntary Climate Actions

Categories: Climate Change
Investors who follow climate risk have had a dizzying few weeks. Beyond the reports about record-setting floods in the Midwest and predictions of a climate apocalypse, there were climate-related shareholder votes at two big oil companies and a progress report on corporate climate disclosures. Read More
14
Jun
2017

Uber’s Shareholder Revolt

Categories: Crisis, Taking & Managing Risk
Uber isn’t having a leadership crisis. It’s having a shareholder revolt. It has been clear for some time that imposing new procedures aimed at changing the company’s culture would require Mr. Kalanick to give up the reins as CEO. In normal circumstances, the board would decide on a course of action, take a vote and the CEO would be out the door with a tidy press release and generous exit package. Indeed, if any other CEO had p... Read More
25
Jul
2016

The Warren Buffett-Jamie Dimon Governance Show Closes Early

Categories: Financial Services, Taking & Managing Risk
A high powered investor group led by Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon revealed their recommendations for improving corporate governance last week. The announcement was flawless – a show to rival any Broadway opening – but the dazzling cast couldn’t make up for a weak report. But while their show closed early, the authors' clout is undiminished - and that could bring real governance reform. Read More
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