Chapter 9

Responding to External Pressures and Unforeseen Events

Shareholder Activism: Here to Stay

In the last 30 years, individual and institutional shareholders have found their voice. Today, they assert their power as the company’s owners in many ways—from selling their shares to private or public communication with management and the board, from press campaigns to blogging, from openly talking to other shareholders to putting forward shareholder resolutions, from weighing in on political contributions to curbing executive pay, and from calling shareholder meetings to seeking to replace the chief executive, individual directors or the entire board. In June 2012, Yahoo’s board—under pressure from activist shareholders—dismissed its CEO for ...

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