Vote no to bashing proxy advisers 25 Apr 2024 Corporate leaders at JPMorgan and AstraZeneca bridle when ISS and Glass Lewis criticize their governance. No wonder: Some high-stakes shareholder votes this year will be uncomfortable for feather-bedded bosses. Proxy firms are problematic, but they do more good than harm.
Shell’s value gap is more strategy than geography 19 Apr 2024 CEO Wael Sawan may shift the $230 bln UK oil giant’s listing to New York if a discount to rivals like Exxon Mobil persists beyond 2025. But Shell’s shifting priorities, slower growth, and unreliable dividends weigh on its valuation. Those factors defy a superficial fix.
Salesforce’s activist makeover faces trial by M&A 16 Apr 2024 A swarm of pushy investors last year pushed the software firm into cutting costs, returning capital, and de-emphasizing dealmaking. Now it’s mulling a takeover of $11 bln Informatica, the WSJ says. The price will signal whether founder and CEO Marc Benioff has changed his ways.
Bob Iger now under pressure to wow with an encore 3 Apr 2024 Disney’s CEO worked some magic to stop mouthy Nelson Peltz from being elected to the board. The next trick is to fix streaming and narrow a valuation gap with Netflix. Even if Iger pulls another contract extension out of his hat, shareholders want to see a financial showstopper.
AI hype will be hard to puncture 20 Mar 2024 Short-seller Hindenburg is attacking $80 bln Equinix, whose data-center investments have been pumped up by artificial-intelligence exuberance. US regulators are also starting to target some of the hot air. Even so, the valuation bubble is more likely to deflate slowly than pop.
Disney’s CEO still has time to be a hero 20 Mar 2024 Shareholders will soon vote on the $200 bln entertainment firm’s board line-up, the culmination of a bitter battle between long-serving chief Bob Iger and activist Nelson Peltz. Iger is likely to prevail. He should invite Peltz to join the Mouse House as a director anyway.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has a lingering legacy problem 15 Mar 2024 The $205 bln company is trolling to replace its longstanding boss. Perhaps its someone in-house or an outsider brought in by a deal. But Tinseltown is skeptical he’ll leave. Iger may bat down activists in an upcoming vote. The best way to ink his legacy is by nudging the board.
Swarming investor gnats circle too widely 6 Mar 2024 New US rules have started helping smaller fund managers make a mark. They’re increasingly needling boards and stinging CEOs. When they flit around bigger targets such as Disney and Crown Castle, however, they’re easily swatted away and become a nuisance for larger activists.
Nelson Peltz becomes gadfly to Disney’s flywheel 5 Mar 2024 A 130-plus page presentation makes a strong case for how and why the $210 bln company's boss Bob Iger didn't do his job. Activist Nelson Peltz’s ideas for fixing Disney are weaker. Still, CEOs run companies; board members keep tabs. In a smaller world, Peltz might win a seat.
Warner Bros Discovery makes case against media M&A 23 Feb 2024 The HBO owner’s first full year since the merger of Warner and Discovery was a grim one. Boss David Zaslav lived up to cost-cut goals but missed nearly everywhere else. Even well-run deals can’t stem industry woes, making future tie-ups - with, say, Paramount - look ill-advised.
JetBlue’s turbulence gives Carl Icahn an easy ride 13 Feb 2024 The corporate rabble-rouser took a stake in the airline as it struggles with a defunct deal and business turmoil. That resembles Illumina, where Icahn won a 2023 campaign. Quick-fix activism can’t mend a panoply of issues. But striking at a weak moment can help activists anyway.
Japan is the new Disneyland of global activism 7 Feb 2024 Elliott wants $24 bln property giant Mitsui Fudosan to offload its stake in the Tokyo theme park operator and buy back shares. Like many of his peers, Mitsui's CEO is a convert to shareholder religion. The new challenge for activists is getting company bosses to be more devout.
Disney board bake-off will burn Nelson Peltz 5 Feb 2024 The entertainment colossus is battling against the corporate cage rattler’s director nominees. His previous fight with P&G shows how he can win with a small stake and disparate shareholder base. But this latest contest includes other adversaries, making success less likely.
Samsung may finally listen to pushy shareholders 24 Jan 2024 Palliser and other outsiders want the South Korean conglomerate’s defacto holding firm, Samsung C&T, to boost returns. It’s underperformed for years but if a court ruling goes in the favour of group leader Jay Y Lee next month, he’ll have a new reason to listen to agitators.
Exxon activists banished best with vote, not court 22 Jan 2024 The $385 bln oil giant wants a judge to stop a shareholder proposal urging stringent emissions limits from going to a vote. Similar measures failed before. Fighting rather than letting this one fall flat amplifies dissent and echoes past doomed dismissals of investor concerns.
Disney’s Bob Iger falls flat by his own standards 18 Jan 2024 Activist Nelson Peltz wants the $166 bln media company’s shareholders to back his board slate. Iger’s defense as CEO is that Disney is on the right path by taking sports network ESPN direct to viewers and cutting streaming losses. Trouble is, progress looks slim on both measures.
Disney’s angry mob risks doing more harm than good 3 Jan 2024 Boss Bob Iger struck a deal to secure support from Mason Morfit’s ValueAct ahead of a looming proxy fight with Nelson Peltz. Pushy fund Blackwells, meanwhile, has nominated its own directors. The mess is of Iger’s own making, but competing agendas further complicate his job.
Capital Calls: Cevian tries ‘relaxivism’ at UBS 19 Dec 2023 Concise views on global finance: The pushy European investor has bought shares worth around 1.2 bln euros in the Swiss bank, equivalent to a 1.3% stake. Yet it seems happy to sit back and let UBS management execute their strategy.
Uneasy lies the head of Crown Castle 28 Nov 2023 Pushy investor Elliott is again chiding the $47 bln wireless towers operator, urging it to replace CEO Jay Brown. The shares have dragged under his watch, with costly fiber networks partly to blame. As NRG and Citrix sensed, it’s unwise to slam the door twice on the hedge fund.
Two Disney activists aren’t better than one 15 Nov 2023 Mason Morfit’s ValueAct has taken a stake in the $168 bln Magic Kingdom, where it can take its own pushy path or work with fellow cage-rattler Nelson Peltz to shake things up. Dueling campaigns would make boss Bob Iger’s job easier. Tag-teaming doesn’t guarantee success.