Corporate governance - Vigil

CFO compensation is about one-third what CEOs make, according to an analysis by Compensation Advisory Partners (CAP), an independent consultancy. 

This is a drop from last year, when a BDO survey found finance chiefs' pay 42% of CEO pay.

Meridian Compensation Partners has issued its eleventh annual Corporate Governance and Incentive Design Survey.

The Survey covers key board governance practices, compensation-related proxy disclosures, and annual and long-term incentive design practices of 200 large cap companies (“Meridian 200”)¹.

Magna International Inc. is walking away from its deal to buy Swedish tech company Veoneer Inc. after its offer was topped by Qualcomm Inc
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The French government will block rises to gas and electricity prices, as it seeks to relieve the pressure of a global gas crunch and soaring energy costs across Europe.

Ozy Media said it would cease operations, less than a week after a New York Times article raising questions about the company’s business practices led to high-profile departures and a pullback from some major advertisers.

Volvo Cars, the Swedish auto maker owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. of China, is completing plans for an initial public offering and is set to announce details of the listing as early as Monday, in a deal that could value the car maker at as much as $25 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The digital media company Ozy has shut down after being buffeted by accusations that it deceptively promoted both itself and its charismatic CEO and co-founder, Carlos Watson.

The Ozy board — no longer led by billionaire Marc Lasry, who resigned as chairman earlier in the week — issued a statement late Friday marking the move.

Investor demands, societal pressures and competition for employees are pushing boards to be intentional about where and how they focus on human capital management (HCM). Leading companies view HCM as a value driver and strategic differentiator.

The report underscores the growing importance of ESG issues among board room leaders, who are increasingly asked to be transparent on their corporate conduct and citizenship. It also comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to create new disclosure requirements related to climate change risks, board and workforce diversity this fall.

We are experiencing a profound shift in stakeholder expectations and business growth strategy: Sustainability is more important than ever before. Younger, high-growth companies — those that either are privately held or recently went public — face unique challenges and opportunities as they expand business while also considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, be it climate change, privacy, diversity or a range of other material issues. 

The pressure is on, and the stakes are huge. As companies figure out how to transform themselves to become more sustainable, ready to drive positive environmental and societal change, we will see enormous change within industries—and brand-new opportunities for growth. 

The calls to diversify board leadership are justified for many reasons. First, it’s about time corporate leadership started looking like the rest of the employee base and the customers they serve. Second, diverse leadership can have a positive, cascading effect on inclusion and company culture. It has also proven to lead to better decision-making and more profitability.

Allianz SE’s top asset-management executive is leaving her day-to-day role, according to the company, part of a wider management shake up that follows the launch of a Justice Department investigation into losses by a suite of funds run by the company.

Much has been written about the torrent of activity in special purpose acquisition vehicles (SPACs)—a type of “blank check” company.

SPACs raise money in an initial public offering (IPO), which is placed in a trust account to be used for the sole purpose of identifying, acquiring, and merging with a private target company within 18 to 24 months. The culmination of this process is called a “de-SPAC,” which is when the newly combined company becomes a publicly traded entity.

Canadian National Railway Co. has set the date for the proxy fight that pits the leadership of the Canada’s largest railway against an activist shareholder.

CN said it will hold the vote on March 22, in response to a request from the Children’s Investment Fund Management Inc., which has called for the ouster of the railway’s chairman, chief executive officer and two directors.

Ozy Media has reversed course and will not shut down, founder Carlos Watson said on Monday, the latest twist for the digital media start-up that rapidly collapsed after it was exposed for deceiving Goldman Sachs in a bid to raise money.

A whistleblower accused Facebook on Sunday of placing “profit over safety”, as it emerged that she had complained to US securities regulators that the social media company was misleading investors.

A study from researchers at Harvard Business School and the Netherlands’ Tilburg University found that information extracted from employee reviews left on company-review site Glassdoor.com was useful in predicting misconduct beyond other readily observable factors, such as a firm’s performance, press coverage, industry risk and prior violations.  

The calls to diversify board leadership are justified for many reasons. First, it’s about time corporate leadership started looking like the rest of the employee base and the customers they serve. Second, diverse leadership can have a positive, cascading effect on inclusion and company culture. It has also proven to lead to better decision-making and more profitability.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has won the auction for Morrisons (MRW.L) with a 7 billion pound ($9.5 billion) bid, paving the way for the U.S. private equity firm to take control of Britain's fourth-biggest supermarket group.

Because ESG encompasses strategy, risk and opportunity, the board plays a vital role. But ESG is a broad topic, and the board should consider assigning various aspects of oversight to specific committees. Here we outline the role the audit committee can play in overseeing ESG disclosures.

Everywhere I go there, seems to be unanimous consensus that the answer to how to anchor ESG is integration: Fully integrating ESG in the business model of the company and ensuring that environmental, social and governance issues are considered across the board.

But the devil is always in the detail, so the question is what it really means to integrate ESG across the business. There might be many answers to this question, but in my mind, there is only one efficient way forward, which is a full and complete integration.

When looking at businesses online, you might have discovered some that advertise themselves as being B Corp certified. This is an accolade that few businesses can boast of, and as part of sustainability month here at Business Leader, we’ve looked at what this means and whether this status offers any benefits.

 The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the authority on boardroom practices representing more than 22,000 board members, today released the 2021 Inside the Private Company Boardroom report, which provides data and insights on private company board compensation and board structure. Based on an annual survey of NACD members on boards of for-profit, privately held companies, the report offers insights into critical board priorities; current practices in areas such as board diversity, structure, and compensation; and increased adoption of key standing committees—such as audit committees—as cyber risk takes center stage.

Digital currencies backed by central banks could cause significant disruption to private financial institutions, although risk to banks could be limited with the proper checks and balances, according to a report by a group of central banks, including the Bank of Canada.