Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Should the Market Vote for Us All?

Jun 26, 2026

So-called “mirror voting” has become a front-page topic of policy and academic debate. New research is finally helping to quantify its impact, suggesting that mirror voting is unlikely to change company vote outcomes.

Mirror voting, which involves having index funds cast their shares in the same proportion as active investors, has been put forward as a potential catch-all solution to questions over who has the most influence in the shareholder voting process.

This comes at a time when the voting power of index funds, which is projected to be around a quarter of the votes at America’s largest companies, has come under increased scrutiny. But does mirror voting actually stop passive capital from determining the outcomes of annual meeting elections?

A recent paper, first presented at Columbia Law School Millstein Center, by Professors Edwin Hu (University of Virgina School of Law), Robert E. Bishop (Duke University School of Law) and Frank Partnoy (UC Berkeley School of Law), answers this very question.

Their research uses 20 years of ISS Voting Analytics data, covering more than 600,000 agenda items at 9,451 companies from 2005 through 2025, and then re-tabulating each vote result as it would have come out under each of these voting permutations.

Their study reveals that adopting mirror voting… would not have changed that much. Only 12 company votes during that 20-year span would have flipped if mirror voting had been used. Those dozen cases stand in stark comparison to the data if index funds had instead followed proxy advisor or management recommendations.

Beyond mirror voting, they also discuss four other alternatives to the current system: full abstention; pass-through voting; standing voting instructions; and market mirroring. Their data indicated that following those options during the same time period would have changed thousands of decisions at company annual meetings. Additionally, had the “big three” followed the “full abstention” option, 10% of the meetings between 2005 and 2025 would have fallen below the threshold needed for a vote quorum.

The quorum requirement is something that Professors Nathan Atkinson (University of Wisconsin Law) and Jonathan Macey (Yale Law School) examined in their recent paper, going a step further and acknowledging that while “the case for mirror voting is strong,” it remains “flawed” because it does not consistently achieve neutral outcomes in elections.

This debate has also continued at the SEC, including at its recent Investor Advisory Committee Meeting Agenda where the committee discussed mirror voting and pass-through voting as options for overarching reforms.

Ultimately, the discussion over mirror voting continues to heat up. The efforts from all parties involved (including companies such as ExxonMobil) are crucial and the first large-scale empirical evidence provided by Professors Hu, Bishop and Partnoy (who do not give an opinion but note that mirror voting is likely the “least disruptive”) is an important starting point to understand how shareholder voting and who votes will be determined.

Finally, the newsletter will be taking off next week as the GPP team gathers with family and friends to celebrate America’s 250^th Anniversary over the long July 4th weekend.

Have a great weekend and happy early 4th!

GPP Team

ACTIVISM

Bloomberg: Activist Opposition to M&A Comes on Multiple Fronts
Mengqi Sun highlights data from a new Diligent report revealing that last year, the number of shareholder activists publicly opposing M&A deals reached its highest level since 2018, with announced deals in the tech and CPG industries facing particular scrutiny from investors. Read More

Columbia Law Blue Sky Blog: How Shareholder Activism in the U.S. and Japan Converged
In a new report, Columbia Law professor Nobuhisa Ishizuka argues that the rise of U.S.-style shareholder activism in Japan is a result of the country’s shareholder-centric corporate governance model coupled with U.S. hedge funds’ shift toward proactively building relationships with management teams rather than leading public campaigns. Read More

Freshfields: Trends and Updates from the 2026 Proxy Season
The law firm’s report highlights key takeaways and trends to expect for next year, predicting that companies will have to navigate a wave of AI governance proposals and that AI will fully “infiltrate” the 2027 proxy season. Read More

M&A

CNBC: Global M&A Deal Value on Track to Reach $4 Trillion This Year: PwC
A new PwC report notes that AI megadeals, including Salesforce’s acquisition of Fin and SpaceX’s Cursor acquisition, have been driving global M&A values in 2026. If the current pace continues, this would mark the second-largest annual total since 2021, which saw $5 trillion in deal value. Read More

STAT News: Pharma Goes on a Spending Spree, Snapping up Biotechs in a Hurry
Six months into the year and the value of pharma M&A deals has already surpassed 2025’s total. The trend continued this week as AbbVie announced it plans to acquire Apogee for nearly $11 billion, while Germany’s Merck also spent $11 billion to acquire the U.S.- based Bio-Techne. Read More

The Wall Street Journal: Building-Materials Supplier CRH to Buy Rival Arcosa for $8.5 Billion
The building-materials supplier announced the all-cash acquisition of its competitor Arcosa, marking the latest high-profile deal in the sector after QXO’s $17 billion deal for TopBuild and Berkshire Hathaway’s $7 billion acquisition of Taylor Morrison. Read More

Bloomberg: Qualcomm to Buy Modular for $3.9 Billion to Help AI Push
In the San Diego-based chipmaker’s latest push into integrating AI into its software capabilities, Qualcomm is acquiring Modular to help expand its presence into the data center business. Read More

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The Wall Street Journal: JPMorgan Shakes Up Dimon Succession Race with Two New Presidents
In a move that signals the current leading candidates to succeed longtime CEO Jamie Dimon, the firm named Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh as co-presidents and heads of JPMorgan’s Commercial & Investment bank and Consumer and Community banking, respectively. Read More

Bloomberg: GameStop CEO Drops $35 Billion Pay Plan to Focus on eBay Bid
The company announced it had withdrawn its proposed compensation plan for its CEO Ryan Cohen to prioritize its ongoing $56 billion bid to acquire eBay. The news also comes a week after GameStop investors filed a suit in Delaware Chancery Court criticizing the proposed pay package and accusing the company of issuing a “misleading” proxy statement. Read More

Governance Intelligence: What Governance Teams Need to Know About the Growing Power of Retail Investors
In a conversation with host Natalie Bannerman, capital markets strategist Katie Perry explores whether retail investors are gaining real power in governance conversations or just making noise, as well as how social media, AI tools and high-profile IPOs are reshaping corporate governance. Listen Here

IPO

International IPO Could be Heating Up with Big Tests In Frankfurt, Paris, and Lagos
While there’s been much attention on the upcoming tech IPOs in the U.S., Reuters and Bloomberg reported this week on mega upcoming listings happening overseas. Including the Franco-German tank maker KNDS, which plans to list on both the Frankfurt and Paris exchanges, and Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum, which is set to become Africa’s biggest ever initial public offering at nearly $40 billion.

Bloomberg: Memory Chipmaker SK Hynix’s $29 Billion US Listing Seizes on AI Demand
In an ADR sale that will lead to a dual-listing, the South Korean semiconductor giant is planning on being among the top three first-time share sales ever, capitalizing on increased demand in the U.S. for semiconductor manufacturing. Read More

The Wall Street Journal: Agility, Maker of Humanlike Robots, to Go Public in $2.5 Billion SPAC Deal
Agility, a startup manufacturing humanoid robotics company, announced it plans to go public via SPAC, merging with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp. XI, in a roughly $2.5 billion deal. Read More

The Wall Street Journal: Celebrity-Favorite Retailer Reformation Prepares for Summer IPO
The popular sustainable womenswear company hopes to capitalize on this year’s IPO trend and is planning a potential listing as early as next month, reports Lauren Thomas. Read More

FROM OUR DESK TO YOURS

GPPers recently dined at Or’esh, the latest SoHo hotspot from Catch Hospitality, led by Michelin-decorated Israeli Chef Nadav Greenberg. The restaurant, with its Mediterranean and Levantine influences, prides itself on charcoal-grilled, local ingredients, sourcing vegetables from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket. It doesn’t take much more than that to sign us up!

The cocktails were creative concoctions, and we chose the Carrot & Yogurt Sour and the Tahini Espresso Martini, served with a sweet sesame candy. There are no wrong options in regard to what food to order and we started with the can’t-be-missed, perfectly doughy Jerusalem Bagel. The dips (baba ganoush, matbucha, mint tzatziki, olive oil & za’atar) that the bagel came alongside paired beautifully and might have even been the stars of the show. For our main course, we chose the shrimp spaghetti and charcoal-grilled ratatouille to sample the fresh vegetables from our nearby farmer’s market. While we stuck to a mainly vegetarian meal this time, those searching beyond our choices will not be disappointed with the menu’s extensive raw, seafood and meat selections. Finally, we recommend topping off your meal by indulging on classics with a spin: the cardamom soft serve or chocolate tahini cake.

The food and space both lived up to the restaurant name, meaning “light” and “fire” in Hebrew, and we would recommend dining at the bar so that you can watch the bartenders at work if you can’t snag a highly coveted seat.