The Gig Economy and the Modern Corporation: How Airbnb’s host equity SEC proposal is putting shareholder primacy advocates to bed

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Author: Julia Molo | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2020 | Posted: February 6th, 2019 | Download PDF

Corporate governance has experienced a phenomenal transformation over the past several decades. The story of this shift, and Milton Friedman’s 1970 New York Times article heard around the world (or at least, the boardrooms of corporate America), are well-documented. Friedman’s article laid the intellectual foundation for the “shareholder primacy” revolution of the 1980s. In the decades since, Friedman’s view that the sole social responsibility of the firm is to maximize shareholder profits— leaving social and stakeholder concerns to individual bargaining and the government—has become sacrosanct in law, business, and academia. An impressive newspaper article, to say the least. (more…)

Nike and the Business Case for Getting Political

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Author: Dana Lueck-Mammen | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2019 | Posted: February 5, 2019 | Download PDF

On September 5, 2018, Nike released an advertisement that, although not overtly political, immediately led to hordes of #BoycottNike tweets and videos of Nike gear bonfires. But the advertisement was no mistake—in this age of social media, where one tweet can suddenly snowball into a movement with millions of followers, Nike was wisely taking a side on an issue before its customers forced it to. And, despite the anger of some, Nike’s efforts paid off: when the stock market closed on September 13, Nike’s shares had reached an all-time high of $83.47. (more…)

Plastic Pollution: Companies Must Help, and It’s Better for Business, Too

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Author: Rica Santos | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2019 | Posted: January 25, 2019 | Download PDF

In October 2018, a study by the nonprofit Greenpeace in conjunction with the movement Break Free From Plastic made international headlines, calling out companies that are the biggest contributors to the worldwide plastic pollution problem.[1] The study involved 239 beach cleanups in 42 countries and catalogued over 187,851 pieces of washed up plastic.[2] The study also effectively placed pressure on corporations to respond to their findings the study also called out companies by including a brand audit.[3]

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Corporate Sustainability in the Shift Toward Private Ownership

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Author: Brenden Glapion | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2020 | Posted: January 22nd, 2019 | Download PDF

In March of 2017, the number of publicly traded domestic companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges had hit its twenty year low of approximately three thousand, six hundred companies. Twenty years earlier the number was almost double in June of 1997 with seven thousand, six hundred publicly traded U.S. companies. Naturally, the decline in public companies and initial public offerings over this twenty year period was accompanied by a large growth in privately held companies. This decline not only resulted in an increase in private companies, but also an increase in “bigger” publicly held companies as a result of mergers and acquisitions and technological innovation. For example, at its peak, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, engaged in nearly one acquisition a week. (more…)

Women on Board

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Author: Ken Taylor | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2020 | Posted: January 18th, 2019 | Download PDF

California governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill No. 826 into law on September 30, 2018. The law requires publicly-traded companies incorporated in California to put at least one woman on their board under threat of penalty.[1] In addition to the issue of constitutionality, there are numerous problems with this law.

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