Icahn Terms Dell A Dysfunctional System Of Corporate Governance

Today’s boards act like they are vested with divine rights, activist investor Carl Icahn wrote on Wednesday. In an editorial The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Carl Icahn wonders whether voting rights really apply to public corporations. Divine rights of boards: Carl Icahn Icahn feels shareholders can vote but the board can just ignore them, citing the ‘business judgment rule’ backed by state laws and courts. Drawing parallel to the middle ages, the activist investor notes feudal lords asserted the ‘divine right’ of royalty to justify their lordly positions while plundering the peasants. He feels today’s boards act as if…