Financial Times featured NorthStar's shareholder proposal at Facebook this year in a recent article. Read it here.
Facebook shareholder calls for change in share structure (FT.com; 6/7/16)
read more
Amber Moore
What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? • What do you want to profit from? •
Find what matters to you
Browse articles and perspectives on shareholder activism. Use search or explore our archive to see how NorthStar’s activism and thought leadership continue to drive change. Every story reflects a stand.
NorthStar Asset Management Cements the Value of Diversity with IDEXX Labs
Today NorthStar announced successful negotiations with IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ: IDXX) regarding proxy booklet disclosures explicitly describing the company’s focus on the diversity of the Board of Directors and senior management.
NorthStar Asset Management Announces Certification as B Corporation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Boston, MA - NorthStar Asset Management, Inc., a Boston-based socially responsible investment firm, announced today that it has become a Certified B Corporation™ (B Corp) through B Lab, a nonprofit organization that empowers “a global movement of...
The rise of the CEO social activist (CNBC/April 20, 2016)
CNBC interviewed NorthStar's Julie Goodridge about our shareholder proposal at FedEx asking the company to take a stand against state-sponsored discrimination like North Carolina's infamous House Bill 2. In the article, Julie is quoted as stating that "A CEO's most...
5 Ways to Invest in LGBT Rights for Great Returns (U.S. News Money; 10/28/15)
Viewing investment decisions through an LGBT lens can pay off. An expanding body of evidence indicates that what’s good for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees is also good for investors. Analysts say companies that take the high road regarding sexual orientation tend to be progressive and thoughtful about other aspects of management as well.
What’s happening at Facebook’s shareholder meeting (CNBC; 6/11/15)
Is Facebook’s dual-class stock structure—which essentially secures CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s control of the company—good or bad for investors?
That will be the top question as Facebook kicks off its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday in Santa Clara, California.
Why a shareholder is fighting a battle to revamp Facebook’s share structure that she admits she can’t win (Business Insider; 5/5/15)
Dual class share structures, which ensure that a small group of company insiders have majority voting control, are all the rage among Internet companies. Facebook does it, Google does it (actually Google has three classes of shares), and LinkedIn does it.
But one small but vocal shareholder says it’s time for the practice to end.
Investor Urges Facebook to Eliminate Supervoting Stock (Wall Street Journal; 5/4/15)
A Facebook Inc. investor urged the social network to eliminate its supervoting stock, which would diminish Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s control of the company.
In a securities filing Monday, NorthStar Asset Management Inc. Funded Pension Plan backed a shareholder proposal that would prod Facebook to give all shares a single vote.
Tracking the Impact of Public Equity Investing (CSRwire; 11/18/14)
Over the last decade, investors have become increasingly concerned with the environmental and social impact of their investments across asset classes. Given the large social and environmental footprints of publicly traded corporations, and the persistently high allocation to public equities in most investor portfolios, public equity investing presents a major opportunity for impact investing. Yet impact investing, as currently practiced, concentrates primarily on small-scale direct investments in private equity and debt. Many investors perceive that social and environmental impact can be more readily observed there than in publicly traded companies, where ownership is intermediated, diluted, and diffused through secondary capital markets.
The growing case for diversity as a profit source (CNBC; 4/23/14)
What does the Bay of Pigs have to do with lack of diversity in boardrooms—a situation in corporate America that Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat recently described as an “embarrassment”?
More than you might think.
Intel Becomes First Company to Commit to Political Giving Alignment Review
After fruitful negotiations with NorthStar Asset Management, Inc., a Boston-based wealth management firm, Intel Corporation will become the first U.S. corporation to commit to reviewing its political contributions for congruence with its company policies (such as the Intel Code of Conduct, Environmental, Health, & Safety Policy, Climate Change Policy, and Water Policy). NorthStar began this engagement with Intel last fall with the filing of a shareholder proposal on behalf of its pension plan, in which the firm conveyed its concern for potential misalignments between what Intel stands for and how the corporation spends its political giving dollars.
Political Disclosure Won’t Inhibit Corporate Speech (Wall Street Journal: 11/23/11)
Mr. Smith’s claim that NorthStar Asset Management is trying “to persuade corporations to voluntarily surrender their First Amendment rights” is mistaken. This is not and has never been NorthStar’s position. NorthStar shareholder proposals asking companies to provide shareowners with a nonbinding vote on corporate political spending is an exercise of our right, as owners of the company, to hold corporations accountable for political spending decisions.
Shareholders Vote on Political Spending
Citing concerns about the risks to Procter & Gamble’s brand, reputation, and shareholder value, NorthStar Asset Management Pension Plan is asking shareholders to weigh in on P&G political spending at the annual meeting on October 11.
Citizens United: The Shareholders Strike Back (Mother Jones: 6/1/11)
The battle against the effects of the Supreme Court’s game-changing Citizens United decision, the ruling that ripped down the wall between corporations and American elections, is gathering steam among an unlikely group: investors. With Congress unable to pass new legislation and the Obama administration so far unwilling to fix the dysfunctional Federal Election Commission, it’s corporate shareholders who are increasingly on the front lines of the effort to foist accountability on the new Wild West of political spending.
The Supreme Court Had Its Say. Now Let Shareholders Decide. (New York Times: 5/14/11)
Should Home Depot’s board report each year on the company’s political policies and spending? In a groundbreaking vote at the company’s June 2 annual meeting, Home Depot’s shareholders will have the chance to vote on a nonbinding resolution of support for the company’s policies on, and future plans for, political contributions.
Intel Inside, Safe Water Outside: Intel Recognizes the Human Right to Water
On the eve of World Water Day (March 22), Boston portfolio management company NorthStar Asset Management, Inc. is pleased to announce successful negotiations with Intel Corporation on the creation of an official Intel policy that supports the human right to water. Intel Corp. is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of semiconductor chips, the creation of which requires the ongoing use of large amounts of water.
Shareholder Activists Challenge PepsiCo On Human Right to Water (5/1/08)
In the face of increasingly alarming statistics about the global availability of clean drinking water, PepsiCo shareholders and human rights activists have teamed up to demand that PepsiCo create and follow a policy that respects the Human Right to Water.
“Water scarcity is a serious modern-day reality,” says Julie Goodridge, CEO of NorthStar Asset Management, Inc., a wealth management firm based in Boston.