Corporate governance - Vigil

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. has a week to get back in the fight for Kansas City Southern, but the prospect of a higher offer is undercut by CP’s stated aversion to a bidding war that would saddle it with new debt.

In a statement on Thursday CP said it planned to respond to KCS, but would not enter a bidding war. “Our mutually negotiated agreement with KCS represents compelling short-term and long-term value for shareholders that is actually achievable,” CP said.

Fifteen months after Power Corp. of Canada consolidated its ownership structure, the investment powerhouse’s share price has hit a 13-year high as CEO Jeffrey Orr sharpens his focus on the company’s core financial services.

Greyhound has permanently closed its services in Canada after nearly a century, the inter-city bus operator said on Thursday, as the COVID-19 pandemic dented demand for public transport.

Ireland has shut down most of the major IT systems running its national healthcare service, leaving doctors unable to access patient records and people unsure of whether they should show up for appointments, following a “very sophisticated” ransomware attack.

Women chief executives are held to higher standards than male leaders, Bumble Inc. chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd said Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival.

The federal government has spent more than $77-billion on wage subsidies since the start of the pandemic, the largest corporate aid program in Canada’s history. And there’s still $33-billion to go before the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program’s last claim period ends on Sept. 25, winding up after what will be a run of 18 months.

The People’s Bank of China — and economists parsing its statements — are not as worried about inflation, or expecting much monetary policy change as the country faces more pressing risks.

For the last few decades, companies have resisted raising prices or paying higher wages because they felt that doing so would cost them too much business. That put a damper on inflation across the economy. The question is whether current circumstances are evolving in a way that could change that.

While many in the media have seized on “greenwashing” — companies embracing sustainable practices for public relations purposes — a far greater danger is “brown-spinning”: selling off the highest-emitting components of businesses to private equity and hedge fund actors at a discount. This can reduce disclosure, shield polluters and marginalise the voice of the investor.

Mr. Ackman said Wednesday he puts Domino’s in the category of “super-durable growth companies.” He said he likes that the pizza chain has its own delivery infrastructure and doesn’t rely on services like DoorDash Inc. He said that Pershing Square has long had its eye on Domino’s and saw a buying opportunity when the shares dipped recently.

During a year when the apparel industry was hit hard, Aritzia’s sales remained relatively stable. The Vancouver-based clothing retailer late Tuesday reported its fourth-quarter revenue decreased 2.9 per cent to $267.5-million from the same period a year ago, while 39 per cent of its stores were forced to close for the majority of the quarter because of government restrictions related to COVID-19.

A resolution from a climate activist group demanding BP set tougher emission reduction targets was supported by 20.6% of shareholder votes on Wednesday, pointing to growing investor pressure.

Dozens of companies that filed for bankruptcy before the pandemic – and dozens more afterward – received the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). But bankrupt companies, which by definition are in the process of closing their business, were already planning on laying off all their workers, meaning their CEWS-subsidized jobs were likely unsalvageable in the first place.

Pat Ottensmeyer likes to say many of his contemporaries in the railroad industry are “guys with ugly hands.”

“Corporations should have some sense of responsibility to the societies they operate in,” Mr. Mavroudis told The Globe and Mail in an interview. “In this particular case with the subsidy program, it wasn’t something that we needed even though we were also affected by the pandemic in the beginning. We felt it was better that it went to those who needed it more,” he added.

A Toshiba Corp unit said it was hacked by the DarkSide ransomware group, overshadowing an announcement of a strategic review for the Japanese conglomerate under pressure from activist shareholders to seek out suitors.

The vote on May 26 is shaping up to be one the biggest proxy contests in US corporate history and will reveal the extent of investor concern about climate risks facing fossil fuel producers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of distributed virtual work in ways few could have predicted. As we enter the next chapter of recovery, boards and executives are now faced with clearly defining the workplace and workforce of the future. While allowing remote-capable employees to work from the comfort and safety of their homes was critical at the height of the pandemic, sustained remote work presents both newfound benefits and challenges that must be carefully considered.

Kansas City Southern switched suitors late Thursday, endorsing a US$30-billion offer from Canadian National Railway Co. and spurning a US$25.2-billion bid from rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.

Some of the biggest U.S. employers of entry-level workers are adding tens of thousands of new positions as the economy roars back from the coronavirus pandemic. Many are raising wages or adding perks to entice workers from other jobs or off the sidelines of the labor market.

The payment clears the way for gas to begin flowing again, but it risks emboldening other criminal groups to take American companies hostage by seizing control of their computers.

Corporate leaders say they want to serve all of society: investors, customers, employees, and communities. But good intentions and positive statements can’t create real change until power — defined as the ability to control valued resources, such as executive hiring, compensation, and a company’s list of priorities in the face of an economic or health crisis — is shared more broadly.

The company says its net income attributable to shareholders totalled $121.3 million or 49 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, down from a profit of $131.6 million or 52 cents per share a year ago.

Hydro-Québec has made a formal bid to help power the bright lights of New York City, opening up another front in its continuing battle to secure long-term electricity deals in the United States in the face of mounting opposition.

Royal Dutch Shell investor RWC said on Thursday it planned to back a climate-related shareholder proposal put forward at the company’s annual meeting by activist group Follow This.