Corporate governance - Vigil

Apple shareholders approved a proposal on Friday that said that the company’s board will conduct a third-party audit examining company policies and provide recommendations to improve its civil rights impact. Apple opposed the proposal.

Carl Icahn exited a big bet on Occidental Petroleum Corp., selling the last of what was once a roughly 10% stake in the oil-and-gas producer as its shares surge.

The hulking grey shell of GM’s Oshawa assembly plant looks just like it did when the company shut down production on a frigid December day in 2019, but much of what’s inside is strikingly new.

Billionaire investor William Ackman has built a new stake in railroad operator Canadian Pacific, returning to one of his most profitable investments as rail firms eye a boost from the drive to cut carbon emissions and as manufacturing is brought back to the United States and Mexico from abroad.

The most important thing to bear in mind is that independence is not a once-and-for-all test, something to consider when you are appointed and then treat as settled. Circumstances change for both individual directors and companies, and independence is situational: It must be reassessed as events unfold, particularly where a company enters negotiations or transactions or makes decisions about management.

Companies are putting the brakes on planned initial public offerings and other equity capital markets transactions as investors pull back following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Canadian Transportation Agency took the step after a review of Edmonton-based Flair’s ownership, which includes Miami-based 777 Partners. The U.S. investment firm owns 25 per cent of Flair, occupies three of its five board seats, and leases several planes to the airline.

The defense team for a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker facing charges in the looting of a Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund sought to undermine the testimony of the prosecution’s star witness during trial proceedings Wednesday, arguing that the witness made inconsistent statements to federal investigators.

Pressure on corporations to increase and disclose their board’s diversity continues to intensify. The murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans in the spring of 2020 and the subsequent social unrest accelerated corporate efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as stakeholder and regulator demands for faster progress and greater transparency.

Ford Motor Co. is planning a major reorganization of its operations to create two separate divisions—one for its conventional gas-engine business and another to focus on developing electric vehicles and software, the auto maker said.

In a recent paper, we take a different view and suggest that CEOs also make political contributions to obtain direct private benefits. This view offers new insights into corporate political engagement and the potential for self-interested contributions to damage the U.S. political system.

Mr. Kotick, who has been a director since 2012, said he was stepping down to provide full attention to the company’s pending tie-up with Microsoft Corp.

Deloitte’s report this year showed that progress is happening, albeit slowly. The global average of women on boards sits at just under 20% (19.7%), an increase of just 2.8 percentage points since the last report, published in 2019. At this pace, the world will not reach parity until at least 2045, over twenty years from now.

After a 35-year career in financial services, Mackenzie Investments chief executive officer Barry McInerney is set to retire on June 30, handing the reins over to Luke Gould, IGM Financial Inc.’s chief financial officer.

In the current market environment, strong pre-IPO readiness can position companies to more swiftly access IPO market windows. This recorded presentation explores preliminary planning, structuring and governance considerations for private companies considering an IPO. Our lawyers also discuss alternative exit strategies and how steps taken to prepare for an IPO can be beneficial to companies that ultimately do not go public.

Grab Holdings, the Southeast Asian superapp that set a high watermark for SPAC mergers last year, has quickly become one of the market’s biggest post-listing flops.

Canada’s national audit-firm regulator has completed its first-ever investigations by issuing enforcement orders against two of the four biggest accounting firms in the country.

Tilray Brands on Thursday agreed to buy up to $211-million of HEXO’s debt, giving the Canadian cannabis producer a right to pick a significant equity stake in its troubled rival.

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk said he was open to the United Auto Workers union holding a vote about organizing labor at the company after long resisting such a move.

Fanatics Inc. has raised $1.5 billion from a group of big investors, pushing the sports-merchandising giant’s valuation to $27 billion as it works to expand beyond its core business, according to people familiar with the matter.

The fighting in Ukraine has shut down small but important industry suppliers, shutting plants far away from the conflict zone, while sanctions and severed trade routes are hindering car and parts shipments to and from Russia, once seen as a growth market.

The billionaire entrepreneur who co-founded Haidilao 6862 International Holding Ltd. has stepped down as chief executive, as the Chinese chain of hot-pot restaurants tries to move past an ill-timed expansion during the pandemic.

Well-known brands including Miller Lite and Gucci have planted flags in the Sandbox and Decentraland, platforms where digital real estate has sold for millions of dollars.