It’s the governance, stupid!
I started investing in stocks in 2017.
Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, André Kostolany. I read the great investors’ books.
Buying shares means buying a business.
Buy a company that earns good profits, and the share price will eventually follow.
That was the lesson they had in common.
But…
A few years later, another lesson hit me hard.
“Who says the company will share its profits with you?”
There was something those books left unsaid.
US companies tend to return profits to shareholders, so the books did not spell out that assumption.
It took me more than five years to realize this.
Had I been investing in the Korean market without even understanding this?
Attending shareholder meetings and watching proxy contests,
I came to understand how much laws, market institutions and corporate governance matter.
Business performance and profits alone are not enough.
We need to understand governance too.
Activeholders provides the following information.
- Sort companies by auditor term expiry
- Browse controlling shareholders and CEOs by age
- Browse shareholder proposals
- See proposals rejected at 2026 shareholder meetings
- Find companies with separate total assets of KRW 1.9–2.1 trillion (cumulative voting)
- Browse companies with proxy solicitations
- Find companies paying dividends from reduced capital reserves
- Explore property holdings
- Explore undervalued holding companies
- View subsidiaries in a graph
- Read shareholder meeting reports
Some may wonder why anyone needs these features…
Serious investors will see the value of the information gathered here.
This began as a tool for myself and a few friends. I am sharing it in the hope that it helps more people.
I would be delighted if it could contribute even a little to better capital markets and, eventually, earn a little money too. 😀
I would like to thank the people who helped make this possible.
- Attorney Hye-seop Shim — The inspiration behind Activeholders, who contributed most of the ideas implemented in the service.
- Roundpebble — For ongoing advice on the service as a whole.
- Deep Value Investor — For ideas on screening features and many other insights.