Big Investors Have Clout. They Can Use It With Gun Makers.
And if companies don’t take such steps, BlackRock —
and everyone else who owns shares in these companies — could vote to oust their boards of directors.
That’s what Larry Fink, chairman of BlackRock, the largest investor in the world, has the opportunity to do — if he is true to his word about holding companies accountable to “not only deliver financial performance,
but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.”
Mr. Fink repeated those words to me last month when I wrote a column about a letter he delivered
to the world’s top executives in January, pressing them on social responsibility.
In its statement on Friday it made a veiled threat: “Based on our engagement conversations
and our long-term view of the company, we may vote against specific directors or we may vote against management on shareholder proposals.”
BlackRock is a fiduciary so it must make a financial case for such changes — showing
that taking those steps would turn out to be more profitable in the end.
In a three-page paper issued Friday, the firm said “we have reached out to the major publicly traded civilian firearms manufacturers
and retailers to engage in a discussion of their business practices.”
BlackRock says, for example, that it is asking gun makers questions like, “What steps do you take to support the safe
and responsible use of your products?” and “How do you assess the financial, reputational and litigation risk” of your product lines?