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