While the corporate law experts at Berkeley Law’s April 4 conference on shareholder activism offered different opinions about causes and impacts, they all found a patch of common ground: it’s here to stay.
Active shareholders assert their power as owners of a public company in order to change its behavior and encourage corporate responsibility, and their actions have increased dramatically in recent years. Triggering factors include sub-par share price performance, overly conservative financial strategies, and conglomerate business models. Since 2009, activist hedge funds have outperformed traditional hedge funds and other markets—forcing board rooms to take notice.
The conference, co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy and the Berkeley Business Law Journal, illuminated this shifting landscape. Keynote speaker Larry Sonsini ’66, chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, described how companies must adjust to these changes.
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