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The Shareholder Commons

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Published in B The Change

·Jan 11, 2022

Learning the Perils of Profits: Hopeful Signs from a Difficult Year

Why Reorienting Markets Toward Systems Stewardship Is Good News for the Global Economy — By Frederick Alexander, CEO, The Shareholder Commons Let’s face it: 2021 brought plenty of disappointments. The pandemic ground on, democratic ideals appeared to be in retreat around the world, and the planet continued to accelerate toward and even past critical boundaries. But if we look upstream, 2021 also provided cause…

Esg

12 min read

Learning the Perils of Profits: Hopeful Signs from a Difficult Year
Learning the Perils of Profits: Hopeful Signs from a Difficult Year
Esg

12 min read


Sep 2, 2021

The Allbirds IPO Is All Wet: When Some Shares Are More Equal Than Others

Frederick Alexander Investors should tread lightly in approaching the Allbirds IPO. The trendy shoe company’s corporate structure includes a toxic combination of two elements. First, it has “dual-class” stock, so the public can be sold low-vote shares while the founders stock with 10x voting power. This means that even as…

4 min read

The Allbirds IPO Is All Wet: When Some Shares Are More Equal Than Others
The Allbirds IPO Is All Wet: When Some Shares Are More Equal Than Others

4 min read


Published in B The Change

·Jun 30, 2021

A Time for Choosing: Shifting the Investor Narrative to Reduce Environmental and Social Impact

Diversified investors must attend to systemic risk and stop hoping that everything that improves financial return at a single portfolio company will improve financial return of the portfolio overall. — Frederick Alexander, CEO, The Shareholder Commons The Shareholder Commons has completed its first proxy season catalyzing beta stewardship and advocating…

Stakeholder Capitalism

6 min read

A Time for Choosing: Shifting the Investor Narrative to Reduce Environmental and Social Impact
A Time for Choosing: Shifting the Investor Narrative to Reduce Environmental and Social Impact
Stakeholder Capitalism

6 min read


Apr 18, 2021

SEC FAILURE OF MISSION:

US AGENCY CHARGED WITH INVESTOR PROTECTION REFUSES TO ALLOW SHAREHOLDERS TO VOTE ON DUAL CLASS UNDERWRITING Frederick Alexander, CEO of The Shareholder Commons Across the United States and around the world, political democracy is on the defensive as politicians try to limit their accountability to citizens. The trend is the…

Corporate Governance

4 min read

Corporate Governance

4 min read


Published in B The Change

·Nov 2, 2020

The Not-So-Sweet Bite of a Private Equity Buyout

Potential Dunkin’ Deal Illustrates Need to Consider Stakeholders During Shift to a New Owner — By Frederick Alexander, CEO, Shareholder Commons Last week, the story broke that private equity sponsor Roark Capital was in talks to purchase Dunkin’ Brands Group, the publicly traded doughnut giant, for more than $9 billion in cash, a 20% premium to its current trading price. The premium works out to…

B Corp

4 min read

The Not-So-Sweet Bite of a Private Equity Buyout
The Not-So-Sweet Bite of a Private Equity Buyout
B Corp

4 min read


Published in B The Change

·Oct 7, 2020

Sustainable Finance: A New Policy Agenda Supporting Investor-Sanctioned Guardrails

White Paper Proposes Legal Shift From Shareholder Primacy to Stakeholder Capitalism — On September 28, after more than a year of work, The Shareholder Commons and B Lab released their policy white paper, From Shareholder Primacy to Stakeholder Capitalism: A Policy Agenda for Systems Change. The paper outlines proposals for changes to corporate and securities law that would end the era of…

B Corp

5 min read

Sustainable Finance: A New Policy Agenda Supporting Investor-Sanctioned Guardrails
Sustainable Finance: A New Policy Agenda Supporting Investor-Sanctioned Guardrails
B Corp

5 min read


Published in B The Change

·Sep 15, 2020

Taking a New View of the ‘Social Responsibility of Business’

How Shareholders and Markets Can Encourage a Shift to Stakeholder Capitalism—50 Years After Milton Friedman’s Essay — By Frederick Alexander It’s time for a profusion of op-eds marking the 50th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s famous New York Times Magazine article titled “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” These reflections will herald corporate executives’ rejection of the idea that companies should focus solely on…

B Corp

7 min read

Taking a New View of the ‘Social Responsibility of Business’
Taking a New View of the ‘Social Responsibility of Business’
B Corp

7 min read


Published in B The Change

·Aug 25, 2020

The History of Benefit Corporations

New Podcast Connecting the Role of Business in Society with Corporate Governance — The role of business in society has come under heightened scrutiny these past months. …

Benefit Corporation

3 min read

The History of Benefit Corporations
The History of Benefit Corporations
Benefit Corporation

3 min read


Published in B The Change

·Aug 6, 2020

B Lab and The Shareholder Commons Join to Ask the Department of Labor to Withdraw Proposal

New Rule Would Threaten ESG Stewardship — By Frederick Alexander and Holly Ensign-Barstow On June 30, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed a new rule, innocuously titled “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments.” DOL rules are supposed to ensure that the people who administer retirement plans focus solely on securing adequate retirement benefits under their plan. This…

Stakeholder Capitalism

6 min read

B Lab and The Shareholder Commons Join to Ask the Department of Labor to Withdraw Proposal
B Lab and The Shareholder Commons Join to Ask the Department of Labor to Withdraw Proposal
Stakeholder Capitalism

6 min read


Published in B The Change

·Jul 14, 2020

Real Change in Real Time: Benefit Corporations See New Interest

Investors Show They’re Eager to Invest in Responsible Businesses — By Frederick Alexander A few months ago we noted that even though 182 big companies from the Business Roundtable had signed onto a statement proclaiming that the purpose of the corporation had changed from profit machine to stakeholder value generator, none of those companies had actually changed their legal form…

Benefit Corporation

5 min read

Real Change in Real Time: Benefit Corporations See New Interest
Real Change in Real Time: Benefit Corporations See New Interest
Benefit Corporation

5 min read

The Shareholder Commons

The Shareholder Commons

226 Followers

Creating Guardrails to Protect our Common Interest www.theshareholdercommons.com

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