Media Mentions

By David Benoit The leaders of some of America’s biggest companies are chipping away at the long-held notion that corporate decision-making should revolve around what is best for shareholders. The Business Roundtable on Monday changed its statement of “the purpose of a corporation.” No longer should decisions be based solely on whether they will yield higher profits for shareholders, the group said. Rather, corporate leaders should take into account “all…

By Sarah Krouse BlackRock Inc. is looking to raise more than $10 billion that it would use to buy and hold stakes in companies, replicating the approach of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. It is the first-ever attempt by the world’s largest asset manager to make such direct investments, according to people familiar with the matter. The move establishes BlackRock as a potential competitor to Wall Street private-equity giants like Carlyle Group LP…

By Andrew Ross Sorkin On Tuesday, the chief executives of the world’s largest public companies will be receiving a letter from one of the most influential investors in the world. And what it says is likely to cause a firestorm in the corner offices of companies everywhere and a debate over social responsibility that stretches from Wall Street to Washington. Laurence D. Fink, founder and chief…

By Jonathan Macey Many American businesses are mulling the latest results of the annual “CPA-Zicklin Index,” which purports to use empirical methods to measure the accountability and transparency of spending by publicly held companies. The index is a joint project of the George Soros-backed Center for Political Accountability and the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. A word to company officers…