Lunch with Warren Buffett
The Glide Foundation is once again auctioning on ebay a lunch with Warren Buffett. The current bid for the lunch is at $455,100 (click here for the ebay listing). The lunch will be held at Smith & Wollensky in New York, and the winner can bring up to seven people along. Buffett has been doing ... Lunch with Warren Buffett
SSRN Top Tens for Corporate, Corporate Governance, and Securities Law
As I mentioned earlier, I’m having my research assistant pull together bi-weekly top ten lists of SSRN downloads of papers announced during the last 60 days for corporate law, corporate governance law, and securities law. See below the fold for the lists.
The origin of option backdating?
An article in yesterday’s NYT describes the genesis of option backdating at Micrel Inc., a silicon valley semiconductor company: Throughout the 1990’s, Silicon Valley companies were locked in an intense battle to recruit employees, and stock options were their primary tool. * * * So when new hires began complaining that the [Micrel’s] volatile share ... The origin of option backdating?
SEC provides more comfort re: foreign exchange acquisitions.
Following up on this post, the SEC has just released a fact sheet concerning potential cross-border exchange mergers (see here). The fact sheet provides more comfort that the acquisition of a foreign exchange by a U.S. company will not automatically subject the foreign exchange and its listed companies to SEC regulations. Here’s some excerpts: Joint ... SEC provides more comfort re: foreign exchange acquisitions.
Study of Beauty in Politics
A reader of this blog asked me to post the following: Several studies document that beauty plays a role in the labor market: beautiful people earn more than others. Three economists are conducting a study to see whether there is a beauty premium in politics as well, such that beautiful candidates have greater electoral success. ... Study of Beauty in Politics
SSRN Top 10s
I’m planning to have my research assistant put together bi-weekly posts of SSRN Top 10 new paper downloads like Frank does on the contracts prof blog. I was thinking a list for corporate, corporate governance, and securities. I’ll try to roll it out next week.
The Case Against Mandatory Annual Director Elections and Shareholders’ Meetings
I’ve recently posted on SSRN my latest draft article entitled The Case Against Mandatory Annual Director Elections and Shareholders’ Meetings. Here’s the abstract: The article examines the mandatory requirement under state corporate law and stock exchange listing standards that public corporations hold annual shareholders’ meetings for the election of directors. Specifically, I question the value ... The Case Against Mandatory Annual Director Elections and Shareholders’ Meetings
Explaining Enron to kids
The current edition of BusinessWeek has a humorous article (see here) on how to explain Enron to kids. Here’s an excerpt from one suggestion: Once upon a time in the land of Enron, there was a king named Ken — well, actually, he wasn’t a king, but he thought he was. He had a friend, ... Explaining Enron to kids
LSE companies worry about SOX.
According to this CFO.com article, London Stock Exchange listed companies are concerned that the acquisition of the LSE by a U.S. exchange will subject the companies to SOX (recall that Nasdaq’s $4.2 billion unsolicited bid for the LSE was rejected but it has since acquired 24% of LSE shares). And LSE companies should be concerned ... LSE companies worry about SOX.
Eye rust?
Did you know that you can get rust on your cornea? I didn’t until some showed up on the cornea of my seven year old son (fyi: the cornea is the clear surface layer covering the iris and pupil). It seems he must have gotten something metallic in his eye and some remaining residue rusted. ... Eye rust?
Option Backdating and Disney
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the Delaware Supreme Court finally issued its opinion in Disney. See this post at the glom for commentary by Gordon Smith and a collection of links to discussion on other blogs. As for option backdating, I think directors on compensation committees of companies embroiled in the backdating scandal ... Option Backdating and Disney
Zion to register options tied to employee stock options.
Today’s W$J has an article about Zion Bancorp’s plan to register and sell to the public stock options that mimic the stock options it grants to its employees . It seems like another good example of the unintended consequences of disclosure regulation that Geoff has blogged about before (see here, here and here). Zion does ... Zion to register options tied to employee stock options.
