Description:  Here’s a vastly boiled-down refresher on corporate governance: A public company’s management is accountable to its board of directors, which in turn answers to shareholders, who are, after all, the “owners” of said public company. These holders keep executives and directors honest by casting votes based on tens of millions of shares dispersed across individual brokerage accounts, pension plans, and mutual funds. A management that consistently does wrong by shareholders is liable to be evicted from its seat at the mahogany table. For elaboration, please see Gordon Gekko’s speech in the movie Wall Street.

Source: Busineweek.com

Date: Oct 05, 2012

Link:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-05/wheres-the-shareholder-outrage-at-hewlett-packard#r=nav-r-story

Questions for Discussions:

• Summarize the criticisms levied against the company and shareholders?
• Why do you suppose there has been such limited shareholder revolt against the firm’s management?
• Would you be a buyer of HP today?
• Do you think HP can ever regain the valuation it once enjoyed?