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As the 2025 voting season gets underway, dual-class stocks could once again become a common target for proxy rating firms and activist investors. These reflexive critics overlook the reality that dual-class shares are often important guardians of shareholder value and enable important structural benefits, such as:• More efficient capital allocation: Unlike nearly all of its peers, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has never paid a dividend, and Berkshire's dual-class stock structure allows Buffett to virtually ignore occasional sniping from speculators. It's done. Over time, we found that reinvesting retained earnings was 30 times more profitable for shareholders than if Berkshire paid…

Jim Benson, a veteran technology finance executive, joined publicly traded Dynatrace two years ago when the company was nearing $1 billion in revenue and entering a new phase of growth. The company, which was separated from Compuware five years ago, has generated positive net income, healthy cash flow, and annual sales growth of nearly 30%.”Philosophy of” [Dynatrace] “The leadership team was very aligned with my personal philosophy of we need to grow and we need to grow profitably,” Benson said of the appeal of the job. But as the former Akamai Technologies CFO and HPE alum says, “Just because you…

After 37 years with Northwestern Mutual, including 14 years as Chairman, President, and CEO, I am retiring. I love this organization, everything it stands for, and everything it has accomplished over the past decade and a half for the five million customers we proudly serve. I love you. At Northwestern Mutual, our mission is to help Americans build financial security, and we have lived up to that mission. We've grown our client base by 28% and our team of financial advisors by 26%, enabling organizations to generate “real growth” and truly thrive. Our revenues have increased from approximately $21 billion…

In an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping industries at a breathtaking pace, board members are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities that require immediate action. That's the takeaway from a recent conversation at the Board of Directors Summit, said Florin Rother, who oversees AI and AI training as chief AI officer at 65,000-employee consulting firm Avanade. He emphasized the urgency of implementing AI. This means you are more comfortable taking risks and accepting the possibility of short-term failure. As AI moves from a cost-cutting tool to a revenue and innovation driver, understanding its medium- to long-term impact is not essential.…

Corporate board members interested in maintaining diversity equity and inclusion programs at their companies will want to take note of what Costco's board is doing in the fight against anti-DEI activists.The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) has filed a motion asking Costco to discontinue its DEI efforts, saying they are discriminatory and exposing the company to financial and legal risk. “DEI poses litigation, reputational, and financial risks to companies, and therefore to shareholders,” the conservative think tank said in a statement. NCPPR is asking shareholders to vote in favor of the proposal at Costco's annual meeting, scheduled for…

The past 12 months have seen once category-defining companies such as Boeing, Starbucks, Intel, and Nike suffer severe damage to their brands and businesses, demonstrating that their history of business dominance is largely a wake-up call. I showed it again. Their setbacks demonstrate what can happen when a culture of excellence declines, reflecting the malaise that is quietly stifling innovation and ambition across our business culture. Simply put, over time, American workplaces have increasingly accepted and encouraged merely good performance. Even in the midst of the threat of disruption posed by rapid advances in AI, most leaders have yet to…

Advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion policies suffered another setback this month with five policies.th The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the Nasdaq Stock Exchange requires nearly 3,000 publicly traded companies to have at least one woman, one minority, and one LGBTQ director on their boards, or explain why it won't do so. He refrained from asking for it. The Nasdaq rules approved by the SEC also required companies to annually disclose how board members identify these categories. Board members of Nasdaq-listed companies are now free to decide whether to continue complying with Nasdaq's diversity rules.”It is not…

“We're working on real-life big problems here, and they're getting bigger every year,” says Dryad Networks CFO, when talking about the appeal of working for a technology company focused on wildfires and their early detection. says one Stephan Beyer. Dryad's technology uses a platform with solar-powered sensors sensitive to specific gases, low-power wide-area networks, and ML algorithms to “sniff” a fire early in the smoldering stage. can. Organizations such as Mada, a communications provider to the Middle East and Africa, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the United Kingdom's National Trust are in various stages of piloting…

If management believes that people are its most important asset, why is payroll considered a cost center rather than an investment? Labor costs are one of the largest line items on the income statement is. Managers often look first to control costs and increase profits. But the instinct to keep labor costs as low as possible can be destructive.Too many employers view employee compensation for low- and moderate-wage earners as an expense with little or no return. They recognize the short-term costs, but not necessarily the long-term value. They're missing something pretty basic: investing in paying low-wage workers more can…

The future is indeed bright for dealmakers. As 2025 approaches, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) landscape is poised for a major transformation, with mid-market deals expected to become mainstream. This shift is being driven by lower interest rates, lower inflation and a new U.S. administration, leading to widespread optimism among those in the trade. Our Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor, conducted in collaboration with Bayes Business School, shows a significant increase in deals over $1 billion over the past 12 months, inspiring confidence across corporate boards. I'm giving.5 M&A trends for 2025After a difficult few years marked by inflation and rising…