How ‘shareholder value’ became a Wall Street mantra

How ‘shareholder value’ became a Wall Street mantra
CEOs have rarely felt the downside. (Image: Getty)
Bloomberg
By Adrian Wooldridge Michael Jensen, who died on April 2, did as much as any single thinker to shape modern financial capitalism, particularly as it is practised in the Anglo-Saxon world. To his critics, he was the high priest of the greed-is-good era who justified exorbitant executive pay and vulture capitalism: Gordon Gekko with a doctorate. To his admirers, he was the surgeon who gave Anglo-Saxon capitalism a new lease of life by slicing off the fat, removing the malignant tumours and prescribing a strict exercise regime.Nobody can...

More Policy

Labour’s tax plan by the numbers
Policy

Labour’s tax plan by the numbers

Labour has chosen a small target CGT and a popular health target.

Pattrick Smellie 28 Oct 2025
Labour's CGT: 'the moderates have won'
Economy

Labour's CGT: 'the moderates have won'

A 'first step' policy that may not raise much revenue.

Pattrick Smellie 28 Oct 2025
Online gambling receipts balloon amid efforts to regulate sector
Policy

Online gambling receipts balloon amid efforts to regulate sector

Offshore online gambling providers filed $290.3m of GST receipts in six months to July.

Gregor Thompson 28 Oct 2025
How Pharmac's set-up risks higher health costs
Economy

How Pharmac's set-up risks higher health costs

Pharmac's fixed budget discourages use of cost-saving medicines common elsewhere.

Pattrick Smellie 23 Oct 2025