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54-819: Its main investment fund, the Hermitage Fund created in 1996, was rated as extremely successful after earning 2,697% between 1996 and December 2007. Hermitage describes itself as an activist fund . Its tactics include the exposure of corporate corruption in the companies it is holding, in the hope of improving managerial behaviour and lessening the significant discount that corruption has on share prices. Most famously, Hermitage has helped to expose several high-profile cases of corruption in Russia's largest company Gazprom between 1998 and 2000. In October 2000, Hermitage reported that "investors are valuing this company as if 99 percent of its assets have been stolen. The real figure

108-423: A 2015 survey of corporate development leaders found that 60% of respondents saw shareholder activism affecting transaction activity in their industry. Increasingly, however, the non-financial form of shareholder activism is affecting companies in a range of sectors. Shareholders, often with a comparatively small stake in a company, are seeking to influence the company's environmental and social performance. Some of

162-418: A California-based but Delaware-registered corporation may be "pseudo-foreign" under California law and therefore have to comply with California law. Taking an activist approach to public investing may produce returns in excess of those likely to be achieved passively. A 2012 study by Activist Insight showed that the mean annual net return of over 40 activist-focused hedge funds had consistently outperformed

216-499: A Russian arrest warrant for extradition placed him on Interpol's Red Notice. In November 2019, an article published by Der Spiegel detailed a critical account of inconsistencies it claims to have found with Bill Browder's stories. Activist shareholder Shareholder activism is a form of activism in which shareholders use equity stakes in a corporation to put pressure on its management . A fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch

270-472: A company with the intention to influence leadership must be accompanied by a Schedule 13D filing; investors who do not intend to become activists may file a Schedule 13G instead. Historically, investors were required to mail separate ballots when trying to nominate someone of their own to the board, but beginning in 2015, proxy access rules began to spread driven by initiatives from major institutional investors, and as of 2018, 71% of S&P 500 companies had

324-476: A complaint with Cyprus anti-corruption agency Mokas regarding $ 31 million funds illegally moved from Russia through a chain banks in Cyprus. However, in 2015, Cyprus police passed the documents to Russian investigators in the alleged tax-evasion case of Magnitsky and Browder, widely described as a set-up. In 2013, Hermitage closed its Russian fund which in 2005 had over $ 4 billion in assets under management. In 2013,

378-671: A desirable target for an activist investor. Lately, both scholars and practitioners started using machine learning methodologies to predict both targets and activists. Any shareholder, including non-institutional retail investors , may submit a shareholder proposal in the United States, and between 1934 and the mid-1980s these shareholders typically submitted proposals. One estimate placed institutional owners at 68% of shares and retail at 32% of shares, but 98% of institutional owners vote and only 28% of retail owners vote. Institutional shareholders, however, often vote automatically upon

432-905: A fat premium, often at the expense of the other shareholders. More recently, activist investor Phillip Goldstein suggested that the role of the activist investor has moved from green mail to one of being a catalyst to unlock value in an underlying security, and says that the public perception of activist investors as "corporate raiders" has dissipated. In 2019, notable activist investors included Starboard Value , Icahn Enterprises , Elliot Management , and Third Point . In 2019, mutual funds such as Wellington Management Company had begun to show signs of activism. Examples of activist investors in Asia include Oasis Management . Activist investors advertise their message out in various ways including postal mail, websites, and social media. As of 2018, there had been an average of 272 activist campaigns per year in

486-734: A former Der Spiegel journalist who said "some of the articles at issue appeared to confirm certain German stereotypes about Trump voters, asking "was this possible because of ideological bias?" An apology ensued from Der Spiegel for looking for a cliché of a Trump-voting town, and not finding it. Mathias Bröckers , former Die Tageszeitung editor, wrote: "the imaginative author simply delivered what his superiors demanded and fit into their spin". American journalist James Kirchick claimed in The Atlantic that " Der Spiegel has long peddled crude and sensational anti-Americanism." In

540-435: A grand scale". When Stefan Aust took over in 1994, the magazine's readers realized that his personality was different from his predecessor. In 2005, a documentary by Stephan Lamby quoted him as follows: "We stand at a very big cannon!" Politicians of all stripes who had to deal with the magazine's attention often voiced their disaffection for it. The outspoken conservative Franz Josef Strauss contended that Der Spiegel

594-505: A partner of the legal company Firestone Duncan, who was a representative and legal consultant for William Browder in Moscow, having been accused in tax fraud and imprisoned for 11 months, died in prison. In 2013 it was announced that Magnitsky will go on trial posthumously. Opalesque.TV released a video on 8 February 2010 in which Browder reveals details of Sergey Magnitsky's ordeal during his eleven months in detention. In 2012, Hermitage filed

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648-420: A proxy access rule. Votes for the board may be "straight" or "cumulative". In straight voting (aka statutory voting), shareholders get one vote per share on all ballot questions (e.g., candidates for the board of directors or shareholder proposals). In cumulative voting , a shareholder receives a general vote for however many number of ballot questions there are. The votes can then be all cast for (or against)

702-457: A single ballot question, which makes it easier for minority shareholders to elect candidates. There has also been a movement toward "majority" voting, where a candidate must receive the majority of votes. Most large corporations are incorporated in Delaware due to the well-developed Delaware General Corporation Law ; in Delaware, cumulative voting is optional, but exceptions exist; for example,

756-471: A successful campaign. In comparison, a full takeover bid is a much more costly and difficult undertaking. The goals of shareholder activism range from financial (increase of shareholder value through changes in corporate policy, cost cutting , etc.) to non-financial ( disinvestment from particular countries, etc.). Shareholder activists can address self-dealing by corporate insiders, although large stockholders can also engage in self-dealing to themselves at

810-623: Is a British Virgin Islands (BVI) company that CTL established in 2007 for G.S.L. Law & Consulting which is a firm in Russia, Hermitage Capital Management sent a letter to Commonwealth Trust Limited (CTL) claiming that thieves had taken control of Hermitage's three subsidiaries. One of the companies, Diron Trade LLP , a stolen Magnitsky company with a Great Britain postal box, assisted in more than $ 5.8 billion in money laundering transfers between Swedbank 's baltic subsidiaries and Danske Bank during 6 months in 2010 and 2011 according to SVT . As

864-636: Is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg . With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner , a British army officer, and Rudolf Augstein , a former Wehrmacht radio operator who was recognized in 2000 by the International Press Institute as one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes . Der Spiegel

918-562: Is around 10 percent so that's good news." In April 2007, the firm launched Hermitage Global , an activist fund focused on global emerging markets. Since 2015, Hermitage has operated as a family office hedge fund based in London, having returned outside capital to investors. The focus of the fund is still in emerging markets. Although the fund's founder William Browder was a supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin , in November 2005 he

972-458: Is based on two pillars; firstly the moral authority established by investigative journalism since the early years and proven alive by several scoops during the 1980s; secondly the economic power of the prolific Spiegel publishing house. Since 1988, it has produced the TV program Spiegel TV , and further diversified during the 1990s. During the second quarter of 1992 the circulation of Der Spiegel

1026-632: Is known in German-speaking countries mostly for its investigative journalism . It has played a key role in uncovering many political scandals such as the Spiegel affair in 1962 and the Flick affair in the 1980s. According to The Economist , Der Spiegel is one of continental Europe 's most influential magazines. The news website by the same name was launched in 1994 under the name Spiegel Online with an independent editorial staff. Today,

1080-806: The Change to Win Federation often engage in shareholder proposals. The Shareholder Rights Group is a coalition of shareholder proposal advocates. Organizations such as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) , As You Sow and Ceres use shareholder resolutions, and other means of pressure, to address issues such as sustainability and human rights. For an analysis of the hundreds of annual shareholder resolutions, see Proxy Preview. Der Spiegel Der Spiegel ( German pronunciation: [deːɐ̯ ˈʃpiːɡl̩] , lit.   ' The Mirror ' , stylized in all caps )

1134-653: The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists , Paper Trail Media  [ de ] and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories to produce the ' Cyprus Confidential ' report on the financial network which supports the regime of Vladimir Putin , mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in

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1188-468: The New York Times reported in 2008, over the next two years, several of his associates and lawyers, as well as their relatives, were victims of crimes, including severe beatings and robberies during which documents were taken. In June 2007, dozens of police officers raided the Moscow offices of Hermitage and its law firm, confiscating documents and computers. When a member of the firm protested that

1242-842: The 1940s and 1950s. Notable investors included Cyrus S. Eaton , Phoenix Securities Corporation , Benjamin Graham , J. Paul Getty , and Malcolm Chace . Activism was likely limited by the lack of ownership dispersion, meaning that many corporations had large shareholders with sizable blocks (10 to 20% of total shares) who already exerted significant control over the corporation. Notable activist investors include: Isaac Le Maire (1558–1624), Carl Icahn , Nelson Peltz ( Trian Partners ), Bill Ackman ( Pershing Square ), Daniel Loeb ( Third Point Management ), Barry Rosenstein , Larry Robbins ( Glenview ), David Einhorn , Gregg Hymowitz (EnTrust Global), Larry Fink ( BlackRock ), Christer Gardell ( Cevian Capital ), and Ryan Cohen . During

1296-405: The 1980s, activist investors such as Carl Icahn and T. Boone Pickens gained international notoriety and were often perceived as " corporate raiders " for acquiring an equity stake in publicly owned companies, like Icahn's investment in B.F. Goodrich, and then forcing companies to take action to improve value or rid themselves of rebel intruders like Icahn by buying back the raider's investment at

1350-613: The British, the magazine was handed over to Rudolf Augstein as chief editor, and was renamed Der Spiegel . From the first edition in January 1947, Augstein held the position of editor-in-chief, which he retained until his death on 7 November 2002. After 1950, the magazine was owned by Rudolf Augstein and John Jahr; Jahr's share merged with Richard Gruner's in 1965 to form the publishing company Gruner + Jahr . In 1969, Augstein bought out Gruner + Jahr for DM 42 million and became

1404-830: The General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, she was investigating Bill Browder and Hermitage Capital, but denied working for the Kremlin. In May 2018, Bill Browder praised the Magnitsky amendment to the Proceeds of Crime Act released in the United States calling for "swift and robust action" adding that "top Putin oligarchs should be on that list". Also in May, Browder was briefly detained in Spain when

1458-510: The Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. Government officials including Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides and European lawmakers began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours, calling for reforms and launching probes. On 19 December 2018, Der Spiegel made public that reporter Claas Relotius had admitted that he had "falsified his articles on a grand scale", inventing facts, persons and quotations in at least 14 of his stories. The magazine uncovered

1512-733: The MCI/Verizon merger. Corporations in 18th-century Europe were privileged and relatively uncommon, but in the United States became much more common, starting with 300 in the 1790s and expanding by around 26,000 between 1790 and the 1860s, resulting in about 15 times the corporations in Great Britain by 1830. These early corporations contained various provisions for corporate governance , including restricted charters, bylaws, prudent-mean voting rules, dividend payments, and press coverage. From 1900 to 1950, about 1.22 "offensive" activist initiatives occurred per year, with more occurring in

1566-574: The MSCI world index in the years following the global financial crisis in 2008. Activist investing was the top-performing strategy among hedge funds in 2013, with such firms returning, on average, 16.6% while other hedge funds returned 9.5%. Shareholder activism directed at both European and American companies has been surging. A 1996 study found that larger firms with higher institutional holdings made firms more likely to be targeted by activist investors. Researchers also try to understand what makes company

1620-625: The United States, including 47 proxy contests. About 47% of targeted companies were outside of the United States. As of 2020, passive investors such as index funds by Vanguard as well as non-activist but still active management investors such as mutual funds play a significant role in corporate governance. These firms use proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholder Services to receive recommendations on how to vote on shareholder proposals. Activist investors are often hedge funds funded by accredited investors and institutions. In 2019, institutions were demanding more upfront explanation of

1674-523: The activist ideas before funding, and in some cases requiring that the funds be placed into special purpose vehicles specifically for the project. Activist hedge funds, which are hedge funds that "take concentrated positions in the equity of public corporations and actively engage with corporate managers" can address the principal-agent problem and limit self-dealing by providing management with high-powered incentives to increase value. Shareholder activism can be categorized as "offensive" or "defensive"; in

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1728-470: The advice of proxy advisory firms ; allowing retail shareholders to vote based upon a guideline ("standing voting instructions") has been proposed to increase their involvement. Various websites have been created to facilitate retail involvement, including Moxy Vote, Shareowners.org, United States Proxy Exchange and ProxyDemocracy.org, but over time these generally shut down. Labor unions, including through pension funds such as CalPERS coalitions such as

1782-497: The content is created by a shared editorial team and the website uses the same media brand as the printed magazine. The first edition of Der Spiegel was published in Hanover on Saturday, 4 January 1947. Its release was initiated and sponsored by the British occupational administration and preceded by a magazine titled Diese Woche (German: This Week ), which had first been published in November 1946. After disagreements with

1836-402: The course of this investigation, the editorial offices were raided by police while Rudolf Augstein and other Der Spiegel editors were arrested on charges of treason. Despite a lack of sufficient authority, Strauss even went after the article's author, Conrad Ahlers  [ ar ; arz ; cs ; fr ; de ; no ; pl ] , who was consequently arrested in Spain where he was on holiday. When

1890-480: The expense of smaller minority shareholders. Shareholder activism can take any of several forms: proxy battles , publicity campaigns, shareholder resolutions , litigation, and negotiations with management. Daniel Loeb , head of Third Point Management , is notable for his use of sharply written letters directed towards the CEOs of his target companies. Activism may help to address the principal-agent problem where

1944-555: The federal parliament launched an inquiry into Spiegel ' s accusations that bribed members of parliament had promoted Bonn over Frankfurt as the seat of West Germany's government. During the Spiegel scandal in 1962, which followed the release of a report about the possible low state of readiness of the German armed forces , minister of defense and conservative figurehead Franz Josef Strauss had Der Spiegel investigated. In

1998-426: The fraud after a co-author of one of Relotius's stories, Juan Moreno, became suspicious of the veracity of Relotius's contributions and gathered evidence against him. Relotius resigned, telling the magazine that he was "sick" and needed to get help. Der Spiegel left his articles accessible, but with a notice referring to the magazine's ongoing investigation into the fabrications. The Wall Street Journal cited

2052-548: The fund was evaluated as having less than $ 60 million in assets. Closing the fund led to a dispute between investors and HSBC which was a manager and trustee of the fund. In December 2017, Browder and Cherkasov were sentenced in absentia to 9 years and 8 years of imprisonment respectively by a Russian court for tax evasion by Hermitage Capital Management and causing $ 58 million of damage to the Russian federal budget. In April 2018, Natalia Veselnitskaya announced that on behalf of

2106-673: The help of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden unveiled the systematic wiretapping of Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel 's private cell phone over a period of over 10 years at the hands of the National Security Agency 's Special Collection Service (SCS). According to a 2013 report by The New York Times , the magazine's leading role in German investigative journalism has diminished, since other German media outlets, including Süddeutsche Zeitung , Bild , ARD and ZDF , have become more involved in investigative reporting. In November 2023, Der Spiegel joined with

2160-441: The latter case, an existing shareholder attempts to correct some deficiency, while offensive activists build a position with the intention to agitate for change. Shareholders can also initiative a derivative suit to force action by the corporation. Shareholders can also engage in a securities class action but these are typically not associated with activism. In the United States, acquisition of over 5% of beneficial ownership in

2214-473: The legal case collapsed, the scandal led to a major shake-up in chancellor Konrad Adenauer 's cabinet, and Strauss had to stand down. The affair was generally received as an attack on the freedom of the press. Since then, Der Spiegel has repeatedly played a significant role in revealing political grievances and misdeeds, including the Flick Affair . The Spiegel scandal is now remembered for altering

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2268-602: The magazine. In 2010 Der Spiegel was employing the equivalent of 80 full-time fact checkers , which the Columbia Journalism Review called "most likely the world's largest fact checking operation". The same year it was the third best-selling general interest magazine in Europe with a circulation of 1,016,373 copies. In 2018, Der Spiegel became involved in a journalistic scandal after it discovered and made public that one of its leading reporters, Claas Relotius , had "falsified his articles on

2322-509: The management (agents) do not adequately respond to the wishes of the principals (investors) of publicly traded companies. In the 2010s, investments in the activist asset class grew, with activists receiving coverage by the media and positive attention from investors. Activists have typically engaged in adversarial campaigns, but have also in some cases been able to acquire board seats with a formal proxy context. Shareholder activists are making their mark on mergers and acquisitions as well –

2376-430: The old town part of Hamburg. Der Spiegel 's circulation rose quickly. From 15,000 copies in 1947, it grew to 65,000 in 1948 and 437,000 in 1961. It was nearly 500,000 copies in 1962. By the 1970s, it had reached a plateau at about 900,000 copies. When the German reunification in 1990 made it available to a new readership in former East Germany , the circulation exceeded one million. The magazine's influence

2430-573: The political culture of post-war Germany and—with the first mass demonstrations and public protests—being a turning point from the old Obrigkeitsstaat ( authoritarian state) to a modern democracy . In 2010, the magazine supported WikiLeaks in publishing leaked materials from the United States State Department , along with The Guardian , The New York Times , El País , and Le Monde and in October 2013 with

2484-490: The recent activist investment funds include: California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), Icahn Management LP , Santa Monica Partners Opportunity Fund LP, State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA), and Relational Investors, LLC . Due to the Internet, smaller shareholders have also gained an outlet to voice their opinions. In 2005, small MCI Inc. shareholders created an online petition to protest

2538-412: The role of opinion leader in the German press. Der Spiegel has a distinctive reputation for revealing political misconduct and scandals. Online Encyclopædia Britannica emphasizes this quality of the magazine as follows: "The magazine is renowned for its aggressive, vigorous, and well-written exposés of government malpractice and scandals." It merited recognition for this as early as 1950 when

2592-492: The search was illegal, he was beaten by officers and hospitalized for two weeks. Hermitage became victim of what is known in Russia as "corporate raiding": seizing companies and other assets with the aid of corrupt law enforcement officials and judges. Three Hermitage holdings companies were seized on what the company's lawyers insist are bogus charges. On 8 October 2008, Hermitage released a video on YouTube accusing Russian police of fraud. On 16 November 2009, Sergei Magnitsky ,

2646-434: The sole owner of Der Spiegel . In 1971, Gruner + Jahr bought back a 25% share in the magazine. In 1974, Augstein restructured the company to make the employees shareholders. All employees with more than three years seniority were offered the opportunity to become an associate and participate in the management of the company, as well as in the profits. Since 1952, Der Spiegel has been headquartered in its own building in

2700-581: The summer of 2022, Der Spiegel published three articles and a podcast regarding the death of a refugee girl on an islet in the Evros river at the Greece–Turkey borders, accusing Greece of failing to aid the refugees which caused the girl's death. But at the end of December 2022, the magazine retracted the articles and the podcast. In 2023, the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) wrote that this story

2754-492: Was blacklisted by the Russian government as a "threat to national security" and denied entry to the country. According to publication in The Economist , the fund was blacklisted because its management interfered with the flow of money to "corrupt bureaucrats and their businessmen accomplices" in Russia. In April 2008, because three of Hermitage Capital's subsidiaries had been placed under control of Boily Systems, which

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2808-887: Was "one of the largest fake news breakdowns since Claas Relotius." In January 1978 the office of Der Spiegel in East Berlin was closed by the East German government following the publication of critical articles against the conditions in the country. A special 25 March 2008 edition of the magazine on Islam was banned in Egypt in April 2008 for publishing material deemed by authorities to be insulting Islam and Muhammed . Der Spiegel began moving into its current head office in HafenCity in September 2011. The facility

2862-529: Was "the Gestapo of our time". He referred to journalists in general as "rats". The Social Democrat Willy Brandt called it "Scheißblatt" (i.e., a "shit paper") during his term in office as Chancellor . Der Spiegel often produces feature-length articles on problems affecting Germany (like demographic trends, the federal system's gridlock or the issues of its education system) and describes optional strategies and their risks in depth. The magazine plays

2916-490: Was 1.1 million copies. In 1994, Spiegel Online was launched. It had separate and independent editorial staff from Der Spiegel . In 1999, the circulation of Der Spiegel was 1,061,000 copies. Der Spiegel had an average circulation of 1,076,000 copies in 2003. In 2007 the magazine started a new regional supplement in Switzerland . A 50-page study of Switzerland, it was the first regional supplement of

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