An activist shareholder uses an equity stake in a corporation to put public pressure on its management.

Interlopers are increasingly depending on activist shareholders to champion their cause.

They also say that activist shareholders, like environmental groups or union pension funds, will pressure companies with threats of withholding votes.

How on earth can profitmaking companies, in a competitive business environment, with activist shareholders, be so incredibly wasteful?

But will activist shareholders persuade regulators they do not deserve the power even before efforts to give it to them are completed?

But these days activist shareholders appear to be all over Europe, where attitudes toward owning stock and exercising the rights of ownership are changing significantly.

That may sound like old-school thinking, the kind that activist shareholders are trying to exorcise.

In 2010, activist shareholders asked BP for a full investigation of the project, but were defeated.

For what seems like forever, activist shareholders have been fighting to rein in runaway executive pay - and losing every battle.

But then option grants began to grow, in response to calls from activist shareholders that executive pay should be tied more closely to performance.