The New Power Brokers: The Rise of Asset Manager Capitalism and the New Economic Order
On June 2, 2021, after a grueling six month proxy battle with the investment firm Engine No. 1, oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil reported final vote results from its annual shareholder meeting, announcing the election of three of Engine No. 1’s nominees to the company’s nine-person board. Engine No. 1’s victory represented a watershed moment. The activist […]
Sahand Moarefy is a corporate attorney and writer. This post is based on his book, The New Power Brokers.
On June 2, 2021, after a grueling six month proxy battle with the investment firm Engine No. 1, oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil reported final vote results from its annual shareholder meeting, announcing the election of three of Engine No. 1’s nominees to the company’s nine-person board. Engine No. 1’s victory represented a watershed moment. The activist fund had succeeded in mounting a first-of-its-kind, environmentally-focused proxy contest that called on shareholders to vote for its director candidates as part of a corporate overhaul to reduce Exxon’s carbon footprint and accelerate its transition from fossil fuels. Owning only a 0.02% stake, Engine No. 1 managed to get its nominees elected by winning the support of Exxon’s largest shareholders⸺including BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard or the “Big Three”⸺who had come to support efforts to combat climate change and other Environmental, Social and Governance causes.
