Details

<p>Introduction.- Chapter&nbsp;I: The Early American Corporation.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;II: Adolf Berle and the Modern Corporation.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;III: The Rise of Asset Manager Capitalism.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;IV: The Emergence of the Shareholder Primacy Paradigm.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;V: The New Stakeholder Capitalism and ESG.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;VI: The ESG Report Card and Rise of Private Markets.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;VII: Asset Manager Capitalism and the Energy Industry.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;VIII: Institutional Setup of Today’s Asset Managers.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;IX: The Post-ESG World and a Roadmap for the Future.-&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;X: A New Stewardship Framework.</p>

<p><strong>Sahand Moarefy</strong> is a corporate attorney and writer.&nbsp; His work has been featured in various publications, including <em>Foreign Affairs</em>, <em>Lawfare</em>, <em>The Diplomat</em> and <em>American Affairs</em>.&nbsp; Sahand splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Over the course of the last 70 years, asset managers⸺from activist hedge funds to large passive index fund providers⸺have come to own the substantial majority of corporate equities in the United States, and have wielded that ownership to fundamentally reshape the economy.&nbsp; For most of American history, investing was simple: you purchased shares and left the operation of the company to management. &nbsp;If you were dissatisfied with the firm’s performance, you sold your shares. &nbsp;With the rise of asset managers, shareholders now attempt to directly change the companies in which they invest.</p>

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<p>The <em>New Power Brokers</em> chronicles the economic, legal and technological changes at the heart of this transformation in our public markets, and provides fresh perspectives on what those changes mean for corporations, investors and society as a whole.</p>

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<p><strong>Sahand Moarefy</strong> is a corporate attorney and writer.&nbsp; His work has been featured in various publications, including <em>Foreign Affairs</em>, <em>Lawfare</em>, <em>The Diplomat</em> and <em>American Affairs</em>.&nbsp; Sahand splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Explores the role of institutional investors on corporate policies, investing, and governance Examines how the rise of asset managers in second half of 20th century has transformed the economy and society at large Discusses the congruence of traditional “short-term” hedge fund activism and ESG advocacy by large asset managers

<p>“A century ago, the US had a problem of corporate governance described as the separation of ownership (by numerous, weak individual shareholders) from control (by relatively few, powerful corporate managers). Today, corporate shares are now mostly owned and voted not by individual investors, but by a limited group of large institutional investors. These asset managers are supposed to act in the best interests of the ultimate owners, the regular people and small businesses who, frequently through retirement accounts and 401(k)s, are the true suppliers of capital to corporations. But do the asset managers so act? Indeed, can they so act? <em>The New Power Brokers</em> elegantly surveys the terrain of this brave new world of asset-manager capitalism, identifying a host of problems and challenges and pointing the way to possible solutions.” (Richard Sylla, Professor Emeritus of Economics, New York University)<br>
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“New, powerful dynamics shape how institutional shareholders exercise their considerable power over the world’s largest corporations. &nbsp;Not only have the shareholders changed, but their investment strategies and objectives have evolved, calling into question whether the traditional model of the large public corporation remains accurate today. &nbsp;<em>The New Power Brokers</em> deftly takes the reader inside the black box of institutional share ownership to consider the economic, legal, and technological developments that are shaping this new paradigm.” (Charles Whitehead, Myron C. Taylor Alumni Professor of Business Law, Cornell Law School)<br>
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“The soft but growing power that large asset managers can exert over public companies has rightly emerged as an important, complicated and increasingly controversial topic in recent years. Investment groups are damned if they do engage more aggressively, and damned if they don't. Sahand Moarefy’s book <em>The New Power Brokers</em> is an invaluable exploration of the debate surrounding ‘asset manager capitalism’, and tackles this thorny subject with aplomb.” (Robin Wigglesworth, financial journalist and author, most recently, of “Trillions: How a Band of Wall Street Renegades Invented the Index Fund and Changed Finance Forever”)<br>
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“Sahand Moarefy’s brilliant and compelling analysis of the power of institutional investors today rivals Adolf Berle’s response to the power of corporations in the early part of the 20th century. &nbsp;His book demands an equally wide readership so that we can once again generate support for new policies that are urgently needed to build a fairer capitalism.” (Martin Daunton, Emeritus Professor of Economic History, University of Cambridge, and author of “The Economic Government of the World 1933-2023”)<br>
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“One of the great transformations of corporate ownership in the U.S. is now complete. Institutional investors held 6 percent of corporate equities in 1950 but more than 80 percent now, and from this all else follows. In his tour de force, Sahand Moarefy compellingly demonstrates that the drivers of big business have become the large global asset managers, who determine everything from director independence to environmental progress. To understand why and what the future holds, The New Power Brokers is an imperative roadmap.” (Michael Useem, Faculty Director of the McNulty Leadership Program, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of “Investor Capitalism: &nbsp;How Money Managers Are Changing the Face of Corporate America”)<br>
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“For more than a decade, many corporate leaders have declared themselves in favor of a more moral form of capitalism. &nbsp;Some have claimed that institutional fund managers can, simply by their investment choices, solve the planetary challenges we face. &nbsp;With remarkable fluency and expertise, Sahand Moarefy shows instead that asset fund managers and index fund leadership have not been as effective as many claim in implementing the goals of ESG. &nbsp;While some look to business savior figures such as Steve Jobs or Elon Musk as the leaders of capitalism, Moarefy shows instead that we need to be much more focused on the asset managers who are making the decisions that shape our world.” (Jacob Soll, University Professor and Professor of Philosophy, History, and Accounting, University of Southern California, and author, most recently, of “Free Market: The History of an Idea”)<br>
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“The New Power Brokers is an important book, guiding us from the managerial revolution to the shareholder revolution to the passive investing revolution—from a more precise understanding of corporate law to a deeper appreciation of political economy.” (Julius Krein, Editor and Founder, “American Affairs”)</p>