Photo/Illutration Members of an environmental nongovernmental organization ask for climate change measures at a financial institution’s general shareholders’ meeting on June 29 in Tokyo. (Photo by Chinami Tajika)

We often hear these days of “activist shareholders,” who take aggressive measures to raise the stock prices of the companies in which they hold shares.

Many of the terms that refer to the tactics they use--and other aspects of their activism--use metaphors of war, as I learned from “Tekitai-teki Baishu to Akutibisuto” (Hostile takeovers and activists), a book recently published by Yo Ota, a lawyer well-versed in corporate takeovers.

For example, “wolf pack” activism refers to multiple stockholders, including activists, separately buying up shares and suddenly coming forward as one to push through their demands.

The tactic is originally the brainchild of a Nazi Germany admiral, who deployed scores of U-boats to shatter Britain’s trade routes during World War II.

I learned of more such examples upon further research.

A “dawn raid” means purchasing a lot of shares immediately after a trading day opens.

“Capitulation” refers to the act of dumping shares, at the sacrifice of potential interests, to get out of the market.

So, this is a world where special meanings are carried using these military terms, which only sound spine-chilling to somebody like myself for whom investments are simply not in the stars.

We are again at a time of the year for general shareholder meetings.

The season peaked yesterday, with nearly 600 listed companies holding similar meetings.

Shareholders’ proposals were submitted to a record number of businesses, as more and more stockholders wish to say a thing or two regarding the way the companies are being managed.

The motions they submitted reportedly cover a broad variety of subjects, ranging all the way from demands for an immediate return of profits to mid- and long-term proposals.

Sokaiya corporate racketeers, who intervene in the general shareholder meetings in exchange for expected payments or other valuables, were previously a fixture at similar meetings.

Many companies held their general shareholder meetings on the same day in the hopes of keeping sokaiya out. The numbers of racketeers, however, have since been decimated thanks, in part, to law amendments and toughened regulations.

Ota says in his book there is no correct answer on what should be done by, or in response to, activist shareholders.

Stockholders who are not active, and those who are not even shareholders, may draw on this opportunity to reflect on the question of for whom a company exists.

And they will hopefully use peaceful terms.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 30

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.