Corporate governance - Vigil

As economist John Kenneth Galbraith remarked in a 1994 interview, knowing someone is watching can make a difference in the behavior of the watched.  It is not surprising, then, that societies seek to use monitoring and disclosure as tools to encourage desirable business practices, especially in the area of social responsibility such as businesses’ environmental impacts.

A newly formed transatlantic telecoms company is planning a “substantial” investment in expanding its network across Europe after completing a $2.2bn acquisition of assets owned by a struggling rival.

The recent surge in Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia has throttled ports and locked down plantations and processors, sparking extended disruptions of raw materials such as palm oil, coffee and tin.

If Walmart Inc. wasn’t family-controlled or Lyft Inc. didn’t have a dual-class stock structure, shareholder resolutions calling on both companies to disclose more information about their lobbying activities would have passed this proxy season.

Similarly, four out of five shareholder proposals at Facebook Inc. received a majority of outside votes this year despite showing lower overall vote totals. And not counting Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s 57.9% of voting power, the company’s own proposal about board directors’ compensation barely passed, getting just 50.9% of outside votes, according to an analysis by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.

The crypto group’s fight with the SEC could lead to more barriers to innovation, not fewer

A leader in electric two-wheeled hardware and battery swap solutions is going public via a SPAC merger announced Thursday.

Hedge fund Elliott Management has taken a stake in Scottish energy group SSE and is pushing for the company to separate or sell its renewables business, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Microsoft said Tuesday its board approved the appointment of its president, Brad Smith, to the position of vice chair. The move comes months after Satya Nadella took on the role of chairman after joining the board when he replaced Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014.

After a slump in consumer prices during the pandemic, they’ve come roaring back as demand increases and supplies of some goods get scarce. Here’s what you need to know

Soaring gas prices have forced the closure of two large fertiliser plants in the north of England in one of the first signs that a global supply crunch could force many energy-intensive industries to scale back activity this winter.

Taiwan’s Gogoro Inc. will go public in the U.S. via a special-purpose acquisition vehicle merger with Poema Global Holdings Corp. that values the battery-swapping pioneer at more than $2.3 billion.

The Grant Thornton LLP Partnership Board has named Seth Siegel, 49, as the firm’s CEO-elect. Siegel will succeed Grant Thornton’s current CEO, Brad Preber, when Preber retires on July 31, 2022 after almost two decades in leadership roles at the firm.

Royal Bank of Canada has named Nadine Ahn as its new chief financial officer, succeeding Rod Bolger, who leaves the bank after nearly five years in the role.

Record-breaking energy prices are driving bond investors to bet on a jump in eurozone inflation in the coming months, turning the trade bloc’s narrative of superlow price growth on its head, at least temporarily.

Hoffmann will succeed current CEO Reinold Geiger, who is stepping down from his role yet will continue as Chairman of the Board and Executive Director. 

In addition to his new position, Hoffman will continue as Vice-Chairman of the Board and Executive Director.

Tobacco company Philip Morris International has taken control of the UK-based inhaler company Vectura after winning over enough of its shareholders, despite concerns from health charities about the cigarette maker’s ownership of a medical devices business.

Bank of Montreal BMO-T -0.05%decrease
wealth management head Joanna Rotenberg is leaving the bank to take a new job.

BMO chief executive officer Darryl White told staff in an internal memo that Ms. Rotenberg is stepping down “to pursue another opportunity,” after she informed the bank of her decision this week.

Property giant China Evergrande Group has said that it cannot sell properties and other assets fast enough to service its massive $300bn debts, and that its cashflow was under “tremendous pressure”.

Copperleaf Technologies Inc. is expected to file a prospectus to go public with Canadian regulators as early as next week in a deal underwritten by Bank of America and BMO Capital Markets, a source familiar with the matter said.

The announcement is the latest twist in a five-year battle for control of Lagardère, and it means chief executive Arnaud Lagardère will be powerless to stop the sale of the group his late father founded and built into a defence-to-media powerhouse.

Wells Fargo & Co. unveiled a decadelong initiative to update its digital infrastructure in part by moving its workloads to cloud services from Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google—the latest large bank to make a significant bet on the public cloud.

Mr. Van Beurden declined to disclose how much the bank is spending on the move to upgrade its digital infrastructure.

Hong Kong-based Prenetics Group Ltd. is going public on the Nasdaq Stock Market via a special-purpose acquisition company, in a deal that values the medical diagnostic startup at $1.25 billion.

Industrial production in the U.S. rose in August, reaching pre-pandemic levels, although persistent supply constraints and shutdowns related to hurricane Ida weighed on activity in some sectors.