Last month, the SEC settled charges against Celsius Holdings, Inc. for allegedly improper accounting when it modified equity compensation awards for six departing employees and retiring directors. The errors caused allegedly...more
2/5/2025
/ Accounting Controls ,
Accounting Standards ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Reporting ,
Financial Statements ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Vesting
On December 17, 2024, the SEC announced settled charges against Express, Inc. for failing to disclose perks paid to its then CEO, including personal use of airplanes.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings,...more
12/19/2024
/ Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Compensation ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Neither Admit Nor Deny Settlements ,
Perks ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations
ISS and Glass Lewis generally publish changes to their proxy voting policies around this time of year. Glass Lewis recently issued its 2025 US Policy Guidelines listing changes and clarifications....more
11/22/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Change in Control ,
Comment Period ,
Corporate Governance ,
Executive Compensation ,
Glass Lewis ,
Policy Updates ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
The Delaware Chancery Court invalidated a substantial equity award to Elon Musk – the largest in history. It applied the entire fairness test instead of the more deferential business judgment rule, finding that Musk...more
2/15/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Compensation Committee ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EBITDA ,
Elon Musk ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Majority Shareholders ,
Shareholders ,
Tesla
As companies prepare for next proxy season, they should review SEC staff guidance on the pay vs. performance table. In addition to recent staff interpretations, as discussed in our October 2, 2023 post and February 22, 2023...more
10/17/2023
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EBITDA ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Reporting ,
GAAP ,
Pay Ratio ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Total Shareholder Return (TSR)
As we near June 30, 2023, companies are advised to get a jump start on disclosure changes and possible updates to upcoming Form 10-Qs (or Form 10-Ks in the case of non-calendar year companies). The SEC recently updated the...more
6/16/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Clawbacks ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Officers ,
Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Executive Compensation ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Form 20-F ,
Form 8-K ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Market Conditions ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stock Repurchases ,
Stock Trades
New NYSE and Nasdaq Rule Deadline -
As discussed in our February 27, 2023 post, the NYSE and Nasdaq previously issued their proposed listing rules (the “Proposed Listing Rules”) mandating that most companies with listed...more
On October 26, 2022, the SEC – by a 3-2 vote – approved final rules directing the NYSE, Nasdaq and other stock exchanges to adopt requirements for listed companies to develop and implement clawback, or recovery, policies that...more
10/28/2022
/ Clawbacks ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Reporting ,
Listing Rules ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Stock Exchange
More than seven years after their original proposal, the SEC adopted new rules requiring companies to disclose metrics reflecting the relationship between executive compensation actually paid and the company’s financial...more
Spring-loading - awarding equity awards before announcing material good news - was in the headlines 15 years ago but still surfaces on occasion, notably when in July 2020 Kodak made large grants to executives the day before a...more
Considerations for companies planning for next proxy season should include the following:
Risk Factors -
..As discussed in our July 13 post, consider current hot topics, including COVID risks, labor market...more
11/3/2021
/ Comment Period ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Form 10-K ,
Incentive Compensation ,
MD&A Statements ,
NYSE ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Risk Factors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Meetings ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Shareholders
ISS recently published FAQ guidance addressing how it will approach COVID-related pay decisions under its pay-for-performance qualitative evaluation. The guidance reflects feedback from discussions with investors and its...more
This newsletter discusses noteworthy updates, key regulatory decisions and upcoming compliance reminders.
In this edition we review... ...more
8/28/2018
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Insider Trading ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Share Buybacks ,
Smaller Reporting Companies