Yes, there is a picture.

[gwendally]

I had lunch with Jack Bogle today. I asked him about my concerns about absentee owners leaving corporate management unrestrained, and the role of activist shareholders in corporate governance.

Comments

[gwendally]

Also, had drinks tonight (on a harbor cruise) with an aide to my senator (Kerry). You can't throw a stick around here with out hitting someone either famous or powerful, apparently.

[ford_prefect42]

The key word in that was "alone". Meaning that, assuming that they are disgruntled, others are likely to be also, and the vote will be messy with an 8% owner leading the charge against current management.

[crazyburro]

Vanguard also has actively managed funds that do have room to maneuver (and, editorial comment, frequently own virtually identical portfolios to the indexes). So VFINX may own 8% of foobar, but VWELX also owns some and can threaten more easily. Index or not they also have access to the press, and they can all vote their shares. That said, most of this is completely ineffective except in unusual circumstances where there are enough shares owned by pissed off investors. It's frequently ineffective when actively managed funds threaten too, though not always.