Paramount Plans a Proxy Fight for Warner/Discovery

Paramount on Thursday said that it had filed preliminary proxy materials in anticipation of a proxy fight, and extended its deadline for WBD shareholders to tender their shares to the company for another month. Earlier this week, Netflix changed its deal to acquire Warner Bros. to be all-cash valued at $27.75 per share (plus the…

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Danish Pension Fund Decides the US is No Longer a Good Investment

Danish pension operator AkademikerPension said it is exiting U.S. Treasurys because of finance concerns as Denmark spars with President Donald Trump over his threats to take over Greenland. Anders Schelde, AkademikerPension’s investing chief, said the decision was driven by what it sees as “poor [U.S.] government finances” amid America’s debt crisis. But it also comes…

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Paul Krugman Tells Business Leaders to Stop Toadying to Trump

Many people, especially in the business world, are still trying to convince themselves that they’ll do OK despite Trump’s craziness… Well, I have news for American business leaders: You will not do OK. I’m not just talking about the threat Trump’s madness poses for corporate bottom lines, although that threat is larger than most people…

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Survey on Shareholder Proposals Produces Questionable Results

The results of the University of Delaware’s survey on shareholder proposals have been released, but the import of the findings is questionable, with little statistical validity, as is always the case when a survey is widely distributed and the responses are self-selected and subjective. Furthermore, the person in charge is Lawrence Cunningham, who has consistently…

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Empower Means Weaken in the SEC’s Latest Orwellian Attack on Shareholders

In a January 8, 2026 speech to the NY Bar Association, Brian Daly, Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, tried to spin the Commission’s attack on shareholders as “empowerment.” This parallels the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken transparency and accountability. The attacks range from citizens voting in elections to shareholders voting proxies, from undermining the…

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Anti-DEI/Anti-ESG Group Doesn’t Like the End of No Action Letters Either

The ultra-right National Legal and Policy Center, which submits “anti-woke” shareholder proposals to corporations, though they rarely get enough support to be eligible for re-submission, is not happy with the SEC’s abandonment of the its role in granting no-action letters, and, more significantly for shareholder proposals, refusing to grant them thus requiring the company to…

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Warner Brothers Discovery Says No to Paramount Again

Warner Bros. Discovery advised its shareholders on Wednesday to reject Paramount’s latest takeover offer, arguing that even a personal commitment from one of the world’s richest men is not enough to make up for the deal’s complex financing. The announcement raises another roadblock in the aggressive, monthslong effort by Paramount’s chief executive, David Ellison, and…

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JPMorgan Opts for AI Over Proxy Advisors

We look forward to hearing JPMorgan’s explanation of how AI, notorious for recommending books that don’t exist and citing cases that are imaginary, will produce proxy votes that meet its obligation as fiduciaries. Won’t it be funny if AI thinks Elon Musk is overpaid? JPMorgan said its asset management division has fully parted ways with controversial…

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“Mensch” Costco Outdoes Scrooge Walmart

Mark Sumner notes that rivals Costco and Walmart both promise to make shareholder returns their goal and both do reward investors, but when it comes to their impact on local communities, Costco is much more beneficial. Its superior wages and benefits have ripple effects that raise wages in their towns, but when Walmart, which “tops…

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