February 27, 2011 – 4:05 pm
Warren Buffett’s latest letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, posted Saturday, rewards the reader with pithy quotes on nearly everything in business, as have so many of his annual reports in the past (a 34-year archive is here). Most of us wouldn’t suggest that our CEOs write a 25-page shareholder letter, but neither do we [...]
January 25, 2011 – 10:48 pm
The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules on “Say on Pay” and other executive compensation requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. Starting now, most companies must get an advisory vote of shareholders on executive compensation at least every three years. And ask stockholders how often they want to offer their say on pay. And get input on [...]
September 10, 2010 – 8:19 pm
Effective corporate governance springs not so much from lists of rules as from the human element of relationships between boards of directors and top managers, according to a veteran director of companies such as Ford Motor and Estée Lauder. Irv Hockaday, former president and CEO of Hallmark Cards (and Kansas City Southern before that), spoke today at [...]
August 10, 2010 – 9:54 am
They don’t give Pulitzer prizes for earnings releases. Or annual reports. Or conference call scripts. But if public companies were to be judged on efforts to communicate with investors, the judges’ list of criteria would surely include clarity. The top three standards might be accuracy, timeliness and clarity. This is the stuff of investor relations. And after all, [...]
The CEO of Abbott Laboratories, Miles White, comments on the interplay between corporate strategy and long-term investor relationships in an August 6 interview with Investors Business Daily. Asked about ABT’s record of increasing dividends each year for 38 years, cultivating a diversified medical product line that lacks “pure pharma” sizzle, and following the slow-but-steady approach [...]
As the role of the CEO changes in 21st Century corporations, the mission of investor relations and corporate communications also evolves. These staff functions often support the chief executive in achieving success – or fall short along with the boss. We ought to take note of subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in the corner office. Cliff [...]
“Keeping Your Foot Away From Your Mouth” This headline in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal piece (p.D1) highlights a common human frailty. Citing gaffes from business leaders, politicians and entertainers, the WSJ says words do matter – and verbal errors can cause lasting damage. In investor relations, of course, foot-in-mouth syndrome is one of our worst [...]
Going into Fourth of July weekend, a friend who has helped raise capital for privately owned businesses – and a couple of public companies – offered his theory about why capital isn’t flowing into enterprises that could reignite our economy. There’s “plenty of money” sitting in private equity funds and other investors’ stashes, this serial [...]
Think twice – maybe you should even take a third, fourth or fifth look – before going public, Erik Birkerts advises private-company owners in a piece called ”Hey, Where’s My Gulfstream?!” in the July 2010 issue of Mergers & Acquisitions. Birkerts, a veteran of venture-backed companies that did IPOs in 1999 and 2007, now is a partner [...]
