The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024 brought renewed attention to executive security programs and prompted widespread discussions among boards and compensation committees regarding whether to introduce or enhance …
In brief On April 16, 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance, Office of Mergers and Acquisitions issued an exemptive order that establishes a new framework for certain qualifying equity tender offers to …
Activist shareholders play a central role in moderns corporations. Such blockholders range from investors who actively jawbone or break up firms, to index funds that are largely passive in that they limit themselves to voting. Crucially, in between is a …
Quarterly reporting has its roots in post-World War II industrial recovery.[1] But is there any particular magic to quarterly reporting? Why not monthly? Or weekly? Or real-time reporting? Modern technology makes faster and more frequent reporting possible …
Today, the Commission proposed amendments to provide public companies with the option of filing one semiannual report, on a new Form 10-S, in lieu of three quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.[1] This proposal is part of my Make IPOs Great Again agenda that is …
Our view Employee share ownership can create long-term value for companies, shareholders, employees and society. Plans work best when they are offered broadly across the workforce, transparent in design, and complementary to wages. Our perspective as a …
In boardrooms, technology has shifted from a specialist topic to a shaper of strategy, risk, capital allocation and competitiveness. However, leaders who have run enterprise technology functions remain a minority in most boardrooms. As boards enhance …
The primary focus of the contemporary study of corporate governance is minimizing agency costs. Standard models assume that the principal—a firm’s shareholders—all seek to maximize risk-adjusted returns and thus uniformly wish their agent—the firm’s …
Posted by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, on Friday, May 1, 2026 Editor's Note: This roundup contains a collection of the posts published on the Forum during the week of April 24-30, 2026
CEO age has risen sharply over the past several decades. In a recent NBER working paper, we document this striking trend, examine associated trends in career profiles and discuss potential explanations. The evidence suggests that changes in demographics, …
In 2025, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) opposed 10% of S&P 500 company Say on Pay (SOP) proposals. This was consistent with ISS’s historical average “against” rate from the previous five years (2020 through 2024). In this Viewpoint, we …
On April 16, 2026, the Division of Corporation Finance (the Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting under delegated authority, issued an Exemptive Order (the Order) providing flexibility to shorten the minimum offering period for …
Executive Summary On April 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Technical Release 2026-01 (TR 2026-01 or the Release), addressing the application of ERISA’s fiduciary requirements and preemption provisions to proxy advisory services. TR 2026 …
Key Takeaways Senior executive experience continues to be the most sought-after director criteria for U.S. boards, followed by experience with human capital management, core industry, and financial/audit and risk. Highly regulated sectors including …
Key Observations In 2025, there was a steep drop in the number of shareholder resolutions on sustainability that got significant shareholder support (our definition being at least 30% of independent shareholders). There were only 30 such resolutions in …
As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across industries increases rapidly, many boards of directors are considering whether they have the expertise necessary to maintain effective oversight of AI-related opportunities and risks. As the SEC has made …
Introduction to the Big Three and ESG Guide The “Big Three” institutional investors, BlackRock, State Street Investment Management and Vanguard, recently released 2026 proxy voting policies and related guidance applicable to US companies. Companies are …
In recent years, U.S. public companies have faced increasing pressure to reconsider their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and initiatives. Under both the first and second Trump administrations, there has been a marked backlash against the …
Posted by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, on Friday, April 24, 2026 Editor's Note: This roundup contains a collection of the posts published on the Forum during the week of April 17-23, 2026
I. Regulatory Environment Set Stage for Resurgent M&A Activity in 2025 with Bright Outlook for 2026 2025 began with a sense of optimism for a return to a more normalized regulatory environment which — coupled with a continued favorable economic …
01 days 19:24:54
