Nat Rothschild and the Bakries: It’s Complicated
The complicated history behind the latest bust-up over at Nat Rothschild’s Indonesian mining company Bumi PLC isn’t one for the fainthearted. Here’s an attempt to untangle it.
Bumi Spat: A Lesson in Emerging- and Developed-Market Risk
The ongoing boardroom saga between Nat Rothschild and his Indonesian business partners says as much about the risk of doing business in emerging markets as it does about corporate governance on the U.K.’s blue chip index.
Bumi Spat: A Lesson in Emerging- and Developed-Market Risk
The ongoing boardroom saga between Nat Rothschild and his Indonesian business partners says as much about the risk of doing business in emerging markets as it does about corporate governance on the U.K.’s blue chip index.
Bank of America Prepares Emergency Plans at Fed Behest, May Need to Amputate on Geographic Basis
As we've said repeatedly, despite bank executives braying about the need to be bigger to compete or to gain efficiencies, the evidence runs completely the other way. Every study on bank efficiency in the US has found that once banks hit a certain size level (the most commonly found one seems to be ~$5 billion...
Is Management Getting Worse?
To some readers, the answer to the headline may seem obvious: Yes, American management is clearly worse than it was, say, thirty or fifty years ago, because short-termism is endemic among public companies, and short-termism leads to all sorts of bad outcomes, like underinvestment and accounting gaming.
But that analysis is simplistic. Short-termism simply shows...
“Summer” Rerun: Why Big Capital Markets Players Are Unmanageable
This post first appeared on July 8, 2009
John Kay comes perilously close to nailing a key issue in his current Financial Times comment, "Our banks are beyond the control of mere mortal" in that he very clearly articulates the problem very well but then draws the wrong conclusion:
JP Morgan Hit by Ripple Effects of Rakoff Decisions Nixing SEC No Admission Settlements
The wisdom of Judge Rakoff's tough and controversial decisions taking issue with the decades-long SEC practice of entering into settlements in which companies admit to no wrongdoing is becoming apparent. This is the essence of Rakoff's beef, as represented in his latest ruling on this topic:
Corzine’s Know-Nothing MF Global Defense
Jon Corzine's evasive testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee was scripted so as to lay foundations for his defense against customer and possibly shareholder suits and reduce the already very low odds of an indictment.
Although I'll touch on other interesting elements shortly, the key item from his presentation was one that the New...
Dealpolitik: Time for Netflix to Stream Some Grown-Up Corporate Governance?
Netflix is getting schooled today on the consequences of irking customers and investors. The company also could use a lesson in good corporate governance.
News Corp. Investors Should Vote Against 13 Directors, ISS Says
Investor adviser Institutional Shareholder Services said owners of News Corp. stock should vote against 13 of the media company’s 15 directors, including CEO Rupert Murdoch and his sons, in light of the phone-hacking scandal at the company’s former News of the World tabloid.
