Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

The Dutch Stakeholder Experience

Recently, there have been significant developments towards a more stakeholder-oriented governance model, as evidenced by, among other things, the statements from the Business Roundtable and the World Economic Forum, as well as statements from institutional shareholders like BlackRock. Simultaneously, there has been increasing interest in re-evaluating the purpose of the corporation, for example in the […]

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SEC Proposes Increase in Form 13F Reporting Threshold

On July 10, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it has proposed amendments to the Form 13F filing requirements to raise the reporting threshold from $100 million to $3.5 billion and to make other changes. Adopted pursuant to a 1975 statutory directive to the SEC, Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act […]

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Introduction to ESG

Interest on the part of investors and other corporate stakeholders in environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters has surged in recent years, and the current economic, public health and social justice crises have only intensified this focus. ESG, at its core, is a means by which companies can be evaluated with respect to a broad […]

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2020 Activist Investor Report

There has been a surge in activist interventions at companies around the world, and there has also been a broadening of focus—activism is no longer the sole province of hedge funds and other specialized investors; activism is now not just seeking to unlock value, but also to intervene in governance and performance areas. As institutional […]

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Renewed Interest in IPOs of Public Benefit Corporations

I can think of only one public company that is currently a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation. That’s Laureate Education, which initially filed with the SEC in 2015 and went effective in 2017. (See this PubCo post.) Now, finally, we have a second company that has filed for its IPO as a PBC—Lemonade, Inc., which declares […]

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The Market for CEOs

CEOs have first-order effects on firms, which makes an efficient CEO labor market important. Several influential studies argue that the market for CEOs is well described by models with perfect competition and no frictions (Tervio 2008; Gabaix and Landier 2008; Edmans, Gabaix, and Landier 2009). Other influential studies argue that firms’ demand for managerial skills […]

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Weekly Roundup: July 24–30, 2020

Statement by Commissioner Lee at Open Meeting to Adopt Amendments to the Proxy Solicitation Rules Posted by Alison Herren Lee, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on Friday, July 24, 2020 Tags: Boards of Directors, Institutional Investors, Proxy plumbing, Proxy voting, SEC, Securities regulation, Shareholder voting Statement by Commissioner Peirce at Open Meeting to Adopt Amendments to the Proxy Solicitation Rules Posted by Hester […]

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ESG Agenda

Oversight of Political and Social Statements Many companies have made public statements in the wake of George Floyd’s death, addressing complex social issues including racism and inequality. More than 200 S&P 500 companies issued public statements, and many others have sent company-wide internal messages. Our analysis of these statements shows that companies have become more […]

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Did Delaware Really Kill Corporate Law? Shareholder Protection in a Post-Corwin World

Corwin v. KKR is considered one of the most important corporate law decisions of this century. Corwin shields directors from the enhanced scrutiny of Revlon in favor of the business judgment rule whenever a transaction “is approved by a fully informed, uncoerced vote of the disinterested stockholders.” Commentators see Corwin as the poster child of […]

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DOJ and SEC Update FCPA Resource Guide

In early July 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released the second edition of their joint guidance on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “updated Resource Guide”). The updated Resource Guide is the first new […]

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