I think that might have been an element in it, and people have asked me that very thing. Remember, Disney is the majority shareholder, but it is not an operating division of Disney.
Banks need to have large shareholders on the board that have a direct interest in their performance.
You can't put your name, recognition, your money in a company without having share in the control.
You've got to treat people as equals, and make them feel like it's their company. I don't know if I've had any impact or helped persuade Frank [to sell Eastern]. But, I can tell you, there were many discussions on the subject.
Shareholder activism works when activists understand something about the characteristics of the business that the board doesn't.
No one person controls Microsoft. The board and the shareholders decide whether they want to have me as CEO.
Imagine if investors in Wal-Mart really cared about bribery at that company's overseas operations or safety standards at its overseas manufacturing plants. If investors pulled their capital, corporate leaders would have to respond.
We had the controlling shares but we weren’t in control.
The World Bank is a shareholder-driven organisation, and as in all such organisations, the majority of shareholders would want a manager of their liking at the top.
I'd be resentful if shareholders who don't know the business tried to tell me what to do.
I'm a shareholder in three networks in Holland. That allows me to put ideas that we create in Holland on air in Holland, and if it works, then we distribute the show's format globally.
I would be lying if I didn't admit sadness that our wonderful airline is merging with another. Because I'm not American, the U.S. Department of Transportation stipulated I take some of my shares in Virgin America as non-voting shares, reducing my influence over any takeover. So there was sadly nothing I could do to stop it.
If a German company takes over 51 percent of an Indian one, it is given far-reaching controlling rights. But if an Indian company owns the majority of a German company, it is granted only very limited influence. That is unfair.
Most shareholders have little if any control over the companies in which they own stock, even if they own a million shares.
Activist shareholder resolutions do not have to pass to succeed. The process itself can be so injurious to a company that management will cave to demands.
We may have more control, but my point is that, strictly speaking, Rosneft is not a state company. I think that this is an obvious fact, as a foreign investor has a 19.7 percent stake in it.
