Has Passive Investing Grown Too Big to Proxy?: John Authers

To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here.

The US Department of Justice is pursuing an antitrust lawsuit against the two dominant proxy advisers Glass Lewis and ISS. In a week of churning headlines over the government shutdown and the Jeffrey Epstein files, this has garnered little attention. The companies aren’t household names, and their tedious business of corporate governance and proxy voting happens out of the public eye.

They have a case to answer. Between them, they dominate the decisions made by big institutions when they vote their shares. They have accreted power ...