Corporate governance - Vigil

Optimism shows up as a pervasive bias in experimental and real-life settings. In the business world, executive optimism is believed to influence a wide range of corporate decisions and policies. However, determining whether an executive is optimistic is not straightforward. Corporate communications featuring key executives can be heavily rehearsed, with words carefully chosen to hide any biases. Interviews with executives may reveal the biases of journalists more than that of the executives.

CEO of Loews Corporation James Tisch discussed Carl Icahn's AIG (NYSE:AIG) plan and how it will lead to the end of Federal Reserve supervision, and ultimately to better business long term. He believes state regulators have done a good job regulating insurance companies.

In our paper, Insider Trading and Innovation, which was recently made publicly available on SSRN, we investigate the impact of restricting insider trading on the rate of technological innovation. Our research is motivated by two literatures: the finance and growth literature stresses that financial markets shape economic growth and the rate of technological innovation, and the law and finance literature emphasizes that legal systems that protect minority shareholders enhance financial markets. What these literatures have not yet addressed is whether legal systems that protect outside investors from corporate insiders influence a crucial source of economic growth—technological innovation. In our research, we bridge this gap. We examine whether restrictions on insider trading—trading by corporate officials, major shareholders, or others based on material non-public information—influences technological innovation.

During the spring and summer of this year, the so-called “Dutch Poison Pill” made it to the front pages of the business sections of The New York Times [1] and The Wall Street Journal. [2] The Dutch Poison Pill received this extraordinary attention because of its use by Mylan N.V. (“Mylan”), a NASDAQ-quoted Dutch public limited liability company (or, “Dutch N.V.”) to ward off an unsolicited takeover bid by the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (“Teva”). Mylan, which had previously been a Pennsylvania corporation, became a Dutch N.V. in early 2015 through an inversion, which involved merging Mylan into a newly created Dutch acquisition vehicle that also acquired certain non-U.S. businesses of Abbott Laboratories.

McKinsey principal James Kaplan reveals how senior leaders can better protect sensitive corporate and consumer information. A McKinsey & Company article.

I refer to the letter “Benefits of SGX rule to be evident only in longer term” (Nov 20). Many decisions, made rightly or wrongly, can affect the future and different parties. Decisions are also made by stakeholders with varying interests.
A recent call for the Singapore Exchange to allow dual-class shares is a case in point. The proponents of having two classes of shares for the initial public offerings (IPOs) of large technology listings would seem to be corporate lawyers and the SGX’s marketin

Valeant’s hostile bid for Allergan was one of 2014’s most discussed takeover battles. The situation, which ultimately resulted in the acquisition of Allergan by Actavis plc, included a novel structure that involved a “partnership” between Valeant and the investment fund Pershing Square. In particular, a Pershing Square-controlled entity having a small minority interest owned by Valeant, acquired shares and options to acquire shares constituting more than nine percent of Allergan’s common stock. Such purchases were made by Pershing Square with Valeant’s consent and with full knowledge of Valeant’s intentions to announce a proposal to acquire Allergan. Pershing Square and Valeant then filed a Schedule 13D and Pershing Square then supported Valeant’s proposed acquisition. Ultimately Pershing Square made a very substantial profit on its investment when Allergan was sold to Actavis.