由创始人控制的上市公司挑战公司伦理现象严重

    英国议会上周发布的一份长达125页的报告称，新闻集团CEO鲁伯特•默多克“表现出故意无视，而且……弥漫在该组织从上至下的这种文化表明新闻集团缺乏有效的企业治理……鲁伯特•默多克和詹姆斯•默多克——应当做好准备，对此负责。”正如最新的投票委托书所示，鲁伯特•默多克控制着这家双重股权结构公司将近40%的投票权。新闻集团没有入选《财富》杂志的全球最受赞赏公司榜单，它也没有回复要求发表评论的电话和邮件。

    自从英国电话窃听丑闻爆发以来，“我们还没有看到鲁伯特•默多克提到的全面改革，而且在去年公司董事遭遇高票反对的局面后，新闻集团也没有做出任何改变。”美国基督教兄弟投资服务公司（Christian Brothers Investments）的社会责任投资副总监朱莉•坦纳告诉我说：“股东们需要看到董事会发生彻底改变。”基督教兄弟和地方养老基金论坛（Local Authority Pension Fund Forum）已经提交一份提案，要求设立独立董事。

    内森•卡明斯基金会（Nathan Cummings Foundation）的股东活动总监劳拉•坎普斯在一份电子邮件中告诉我说，丑闻爆出后，“我们给了该公司大约6个月的时间来对股东的严重不满作出回应……结果只看到一些象征性的改变……因此，我们决定提出建议，将双重股权结构合二为一。”

    上个月，新闻集团宣布，为遵从美国联邦通信委员会对海外投资者控制权的相关要求，公司将取消非美国股东的投票权，但不会利用这一做法增加默多克的投票权。坎普斯写到：“假如所有股票（包括A类股和B类股）都拥有投票权，该公司很可能就不会违反美国法律，也不必为遵从美国法律而被迫废止海外投资者的部分投票权。”

    最后一家值得一提的、由创始人经营的公司是切萨皮克，它也没有入围《财富》杂志全球最受赞赏公司榜单。上个月，路透社的调查性报道披露了与切萨皮克一项气井权益相关的贷款安排，显示对公司联合创始人兼CEO奥博尼•麦克克兰顿的监督不力，麦克克兰顿已于上周卸任董事会主席。上周三路透社的一则报道称，麦克克兰顿担任公司CEO的4年中，一直同创办切萨皮克的共同创始人汤姆•沃德暗中经营一只2亿美元的对冲基金。去年的投票委托书显示，沃德也已经获准参与这一气井权益计划。

    纽约市审计长办公室（New York City Office of the Comptroller）的企业治理执行总监麦克•加兰德表示，他“欢迎（切萨皮克）将CEO与董事长职位分离的迟到之举，但问题不只是董事会的领导。问题在于董事会本身。”纽约市养老基金已提议在切萨皮克实施“代理参与”（proxy access），允许未来的股东们通过官方代理提名董事。根据去年的投票委托书披露，切萨皮克的创始人没有股票投票控制权，因此上述提议可能有机会获得通过。富国银行（Wells Fargo）今年的“代理参与”议案获得高票通过。纽约市养老基金也在纳伯斯工业公司（Nabors Industries）提出了类似建议。切萨皮克没有回复要求发表评论的电子邮件。

    A 125-page British Parliament report released this week, says News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch "exhibited willful blindness and … this culture ... permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation … Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch -- should ultimately be prepared to take responsibility." As of its last proxy filing, Rupert Murdoch controlled nearly 40% of the votes in the dual class share company. News Corp., (NWS) which doesn't appear on Fortune's most admired list, did not respond to a call and email seeking comments.

    Since the U.K. phone hacking scandal broke, "we haven't seen the sweeping changes Rupert Murdoch references, and News Corp. has done nothing about the board in the wake of high no votes against the members last year," Julie Tanner, assistant director of socially responsible investing at Christian Brothers Investments told me. "Shareholders need to see sweeping changes on the board." Christian Brothers and the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum have filed a shareholder proposal calling for an independent chair.

    Laura Campos, director of shareholder activities at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, wrote in an email to me that after the scandal broke, "we gave the company roughly six months to respond to the serious level of shareholder discontent … and saw only token changes … Thus we decided to submit a proposal calling for dual class unification."

    Last month, News Corp. announced it was stripping non-U.S. shareholders of their voting rights to meet FCC requirements on foreign control but would not use the move to increase Murdoch's voting position. Campos wrote "if ALL shares -- both class A and class B -- carried voting rights, the company would most likely not have been in violation of U.S. law and would not have been forced to suspend some of the voting rights of its foreign investors to remain in compliance with it."

    Our final founder-run company of note is Chesapeake Energy (CHK), which also doesn't make the Most Admired list. An investigation by Reuters last month into loans arrangements related to a well ownership scheme uncovered poor oversight of Chesapeake Energy co-founder and CEO Aubrey McClendon who was stripped of the Chair title this week. A new report from Reuters on Wednesday says that for four years as CEO, McClendon had been running a $200 million hedge fund on the side with his Chesapeake co-founder Tom Ward. According to last year's proxy, Ward was also allowed to participate in the well ownership program.

    Mike Garland, executive director for corporate governance at the New York City Office of the Comptroller, says while he "welcomes the belated move to separate the CEO and chair roles, the issues go beyond [just] the leadership of the board. The issue is the board." New York City pension funds have a proxy access proposal at Chesapeake, which would allow shareholders to nominate directors on the official proxy in future years. Based on last year's proxy disclosures, Chesapeake's founders don't control the share votes, so the proposal may have a shot. There was a fairly high vote in favor of proxy access at Wells Fargo (WFC) this year, and the New York City pension fund is introducing a similar proposal at Nabors Industries (NBR). Chesapeake did not respond to an email seeking comment.