TheCorporateCounsel.net

June 6, 2011

More on the “CEO as a Team Job?”

A while back, I conducted a poll on this blog asking whether people thought companies that allow the CEO to be held by multiple persons at once was a good idea. In response, 3% said “yes”; 18% said maybe in certain circumstances; and 77% said no (3% said “what me worry?).

I agree with the folks that said “no” – but maybe the poll awoke the CEO gods as articles came out right around when the poll was posted on this topic. First, there was this news about Warner Bros. creating a team-approach to the President role. They have three people sharing the “Office of the President.” Possible issues to ponder: Do they share a single office? Do they take turns depending the day of the week? Perhaps they need a marital relations lawyer rather than a corporate lawyer to work out the schedule? Just having fun here.

Then, a few weeks later, this WSJ article described how UniCredit SpA’s board is considering splitting the CEO position in two, with a general manager in charge of managing the bank’s operations and a chief executive in charge of strategy.

The Bizarre Filing Cabinet: Lawyer Acts Without Company’s Knowledge

Once in a while you come across a strange SEC filing that makes you chuckle (eg. the classic is the fake Form F-1 filed by Apollo Corporation; more recent is this fake Form 8-K filing). Here’s a Form RW filed by American Restaurant Concepts a few weeks ago seeking the withdrawal of a post-effective amendment filed by the company’s lawyer – one that was not authorized by the company. Here’s an excerpt from the request:

The Amendment was not filed at the direction of the Company. It was filed without our knowledge or consent by an attorney previously retained by the Company.

More on our “Proxy Season Blog”

With the proxy season in full swing, we are posting new items regularly on our “Proxy Season Blog” for TheCorporateCounsel.net members. Members can sign up to get that blog pushed out to them via email whenever there is a new entry by simply inputting their email address on the left side of that blog. Here are some of the latest entries:

– Annual Meetings: The Use of Floor Proposals
– Notes from the Council of Institutional Investors’ Spring Meeting
– Diverse Director “DataSource” Announced, Dogged by Questions
– Environmental Proposals and Proponents: More Than Nuns in Tennis Shoes
– Annual Meeting Survey Results: Part II

– Broc Romanek