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Sustainable Finance
Sustainable Finance
By Ross Kerber, U.S. Sustainable Business Correspondent
It's easy to fuss at Elon Musk over all manner of corporate-governance maneuvers. His electric carmaker Tesla operates with a clubby board that indulges his big ideas as well as his big mouth.
The buck could stop with big investors who in theory have power over portfolio companies. In practice Wall Street has been losing influence with corporate managers for years as new IPOs debut with diminished shareholder rights.
You can read my take on what this means for the upcoming SpaceX IPO in this week's main story, linked below. Also you'll find material about a new progressive-leaning Jewish shareholder group and a report on AI risks.
A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on a test flight from Starbase, Texas, U.S., October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
The SpaceX IPO and the lost battle for shareholder rights
I've lost count of all the stories I've written that quote fancy investment bosses decrying the rise of unequal proxy voting rights that entrench the power of corporate insiders.
The idea was to remind boards of a basic principle of American capitalism: ordinary investors should expect their dollars to buy thesame voting rights the bigshots receive. One share, one vote was a motto directors were supposed to remember or face being voted out of the club.
How quaint! I couldn't find any high-stature executive currently willing to take that point of view among major asset managers. The explanation is that the old guard lost the argument, as the pending SpaceX IPO will show.
The button below will call up my column on the subject this week.
Norwegian leaders are hashing out transparency questions as they set new rules to guide ethical divestments by the nation's $2.2 trillion wealth fund.
Even indirect messages to consumers about obesity from drugmaker Eli Lilly may have violated India's strict rules against advertising prescription medicines, according to our exclusive story this week.
With average U.S. new car prices soaring close to $50,000, it looks like there would be plenty of demand for low-cost electric vehicles from China - if American regulators would let them in, writes Katrina Hamlin in Breakingviews.
On my radar
In a debut shareholder resolution, the progressive-leaning Jewish Investor Network wants PayPal investors to ensure people in conflict zones do not suffer discriminatory exclusion. The group cites complaints from Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories that they cannot access the service, while Israeli settlers can. PayPal has urged votes against the item, saying the company takes "a disciplined approach" to evaluating markets and citing risk factors.
Parnassus Investments' Marian Macindoe, its managing director for sustainable investment strategy, in a recent investor note reviewed the risks and opportunities of AI and described how it has pressed big tech companies on environmental and human-rights risks.
Congratulations to my colleagues who won Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting on U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign of political retribution and on Facebook's handling of harmful AI chatbots and fraudulent advertising, both topics with corporate governance aspects.
