There’s also nothing in corporate law that forces companies to ask for shareholder approval before executing the purchase.But perhaps that should change. McRitchie’s shareholder proposal doesn’t ask Walgreens to stop the buyback. In general, over the next few years, we anticipate seeing a wave of shareholder activism—through proposals and campaigns that align with the interests of long-term shareholders and target short-term mindsets. We expect long-term shareholders to fight for corporate issues surrounding fossil fuels, board diversity, worker pay, and so on. As noted in his excellent book, American pension funds hold up to $6 trillion of wealth, and own up to 15% of the stock market at any given time.

Source: Forbes August 30, 2018 18:11 UTC