[3][4] A large fraction of those investors follow the recommendations of Glass Lewis in lockstep, giving it outsize importance and impact on governance across the corporate sphere.

[5] Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York, Washington DC, Kansas City, Ireland, Germany, and Australia.

Founded in 1973 and rated among the Best Analysts of the Year[7] by Institutional Investor magazine, Washington Analysis anticipates and analyzes the impact of political, legislative and regulatory developments on the financial markets.

In June 2015, Glass Lewis acquired IVOX GmbH, Germany's leading independent provider of proxy advisory and governance services for institutional investors.

This precedent could encourage future activist shareholders to include past proxy advisor senior executives in their nominee slates to unfairly obtain favorable recommendations.