“Novo Nordisk is controlled by a charity and profitable!” ran the headline on Faisal Sheikh’s letter (February 3) in response to the article by Stuart Kirk (“Everyone’s a hypocrite on corporate governance”, Opinion, January 27), where Kirk expresses some scepticism about the idea of a non-profit charity controlling a for-profit operational company.
Sheikh is certainly right. And Novo Nordisk is not alone. Of the 25 most valuable companies registered on the Copenhagen stock exchange, nine are controlled by charities.
Two layers of shareholders with different voting rights make it possible for the charity to control the company. The charity’s part of the dividend is most often spent on grants for arts and science like medical research. Free of short-termism, charity-controlled companies have contributed greatly to Danish society and the economy for decades.
Frede Vestergaard
Copenhagen, Denmark
