Perhaps the most-watched proxy advisory Institutional Shareholder Services broke ranks this morning with two other firms in supporting Ron Burkle’s slate of alternate directors for Barnes & Noble. The NYT says the move “could be crucial” since “many large institutional investors are required to vote their shares along the lines of ISS’s recommendations.” In their summary, ISS says “based on BKS’ deteriorating operating performance, poor shareholder return, less-than-enthusiastic analyst recommendations, inadequate transparency into and disclosure on a very large related-party transaction which appears to have exacerbated performance problems [i.e. the purchase of Barnes & Noble College], and significant concerns about […]
