Investor Activism: Mom And Pop Shareholders Ganging Up On CEO's.

[35Pete]

A trend started by Eric Jackson. He started an internet campaign asking small investors (typically working people with stock in their retirement portfolios) to "pledge the weight of their shares" into a cooperative voice of power to influence boards of directors and to remove board members and CEO's that he thought were running a company, and people's retirements, into the ground. All the while safe from personal financial effects due to what he feels are obscene contract terms.

With the blessing of thousands of mom and pop's, he represented them, and against the grain of that corporation's internal culture, he got the CEO of Yahoo whacked.

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What are your thoughts on this?

[35Pete]

If you think this is about greed he's now bullying Motorola. He owns a mere 130 shares. That's it. His financial interest? About $2,000 in stock.


It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Gilly]

thats business and how it suppose to work, you buy a share, u buy a vote in how the company works

[35Pete]

thats business and how it suppose to work, you buy a share, u buy a vote in how the company works

I wish this guy would have been around for the Home Depot debacle.

There are are LOT of articles on how he's using the internet and blogs to organize the shareholders that normally don't have a voice. And that this is a 21st century new phenomenon. These people own the company too. There not asking for some kind of charity. They are asking to be heard.

Something tells me eventually all the barrons of the corporate world are going to gang up, react and call their thug friends on Capitol Hill to put a stop to this.

[35Pete]

Creator of the Yahoo Plan B and Motorola Plan B, Eric Jackson is the President and CEO of Jackson Leadership Systems, Inc., a leadership, strategy, and process consulting firm. He consults on corporate governance assessment, CEO succession, senior executive selection and development, and top management team and board development.

He completed his Ph.D. in the Management Department at Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York, with a specialization in Strategic Management and Organizational Behavior. His thesis studied how the composition and processes of top management teams and boards are linked to longer-term firm performance. In addition to his doctorate, Eric earned a Masters degree in Management from Columbia University and a BA in English from McGill University. He co-authored the articles "Outside Directors with a Stake: The linchpin in corporate performance" in California Management Review (Summer, 2000), based on a two-year study of corporate governance funded by McKinsey & Co. and Korn/Ferry International, and "Immunity from Implosion: Building Smart Leadership" in the Ivey Business Journal (October 2005).

Eric was previously Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at VoiceGenie (now a part of Alcatel: ALA). Eric led the efforts in raising over $25MM in venture capital financing, as well as developing and managing global strategic partnerships with IBM, Sun, Oracle, Hitachi, and Unisys.

Eric is the Founder of the Young Patrons' Circle Cabinet and is a member of the Royal Patrons' Circle Committee for the Royal Ontario Museum. He lives in Naples, FL.

http://motorola.wikia.com/wiki/User:Ejackson