Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

Sometimes, but not in a context such as this, where a company is acting
as a unit.

On the other hand, if you were talking about a company of thespians, it
might well be that they act (jointly and severally).

Yes. I feel that the sentence reads very oddly in the present tense,
but it would be better in with the future, and probably acceptable in
the past. The problem with the present is that the speaker presumably
knows which of the two mutually exclusive possibilities is the true
one, so it can't be "or" (though it might be "and", in which case it
would definitely needs "act").

There is another point that doesn't seem to have been mentioned in the
other comments, which is that "I" usually comes second, not first, i.e.
"the company or I myself" rather than "I myself or the company". One
exception is allowed if the other component sufficiently long and
cumbersome -- "I myself or another suitably qualified representative of
the Pacific and Far East Shipping Company registerd in Yokohama" -- for
the "I" to get lost if it comes second. Another would be if "I" was by
far the more likely option, but you want to mention an alternative if
that one isn't available. In both cases it would be best to enclose the
second option in commas (or parentheses): "I myself, or the company,".

Another point is that I don't see that "myself" is contributing
anything useful to the sentence (unless the speaker is such an august
personage that he expects the hearer to feel deeply honoured that he
might act in person).