An excerpt from Top 10 Key Trends at 2020 Proxy Mid-Season by Betty Moy Huber, Joseph A. Hall, and Paula H. Simpkins, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (emphasis added): 1. Shift to Virtual Meetings U.S. public companies are expected, as a result of the pandemic, to hold a record number of 1,500 virtual meetings this…
Category: annual meetings
Notes from (Virtual) Annual Meetings — Guest Post from Soundboard Governance’s Doug Chia
We are very grateful to Doug Chia of Soundboard Governance for allowing us to post the final chapter in his superb series on pandemic-era virtual shareholder meetings: So, my 10-part series on virtual-only shareholders meetings (“VoSMs”) has come to a close for this spring proxy season. Some overall thoughts: Key Take-Aways Companies did a good…
Nuns revolt over virtual AGM snafus
Earlier this week, more than 37 per cent of investors voted against Standard Life Aberdeen’s proposal to convene future shareholder meetings remotely, marking the first significant revolt against a virtual shareholder meeting by a UK company this year. In the US, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, whose members include frequent shareholder proposal filers such…
Doug Chia: Love (of Shareholder Democracy) in a Time of Corona
Doug Chia on his Soundboard Governance blog writes about annual meetings in the time of COVIC-19. I have to push back hard on my friends in the corporate governance community who are advocating for hybrid annual meetings as the floor of how to mitigate the risks and fears of the spread of Covid-19. We always…
‘I have never seen this’: Aimia shareholders call for new meeting after ‘outrageous conduct’ – The Globe and Mail
A group of shareholders at Aimia Inc. are calling for a redo of last month’s annual general meeting, which they say was “plagued with irregularities” and “outrageous conduct.” The group, dubbed Aimia Shareholders for Accountability, said the chairman refused to conduct votes or take questions and allowed security guards to intimidate shareholders who attempted to…
Bernie Sanders confronts Walmart leaders at annual shareholders meeting – CNNPolitics
For the first time in history, a Presidential candidate appeared at a corporate annual meeting in support of a shareholder proposal. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders came face-to-face with Walmart’s corporate leadership during the retail giant’s annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday in Arkansas, where he introduced an employee proposal to put workers on the…
Don’t miss out on the investor revolution taking big firms like Royal Mail and Persimmon to task | This is Money
Revolts by shareholders over company pay and board appointments seem to have become more prevalent this year. Last month Royal Mail experienced the second biggest shareholder uprising in modern times, when 70 per cent rejected the pay package of new boss Rico Back. It was an embarrassing revolt that sent the postal-service firm back to…
Board Members Ditching Annual Meetings
We recommend a no vote for directors who do not show up at annual meetings without a good reason. Some small investors who want to give a piece of their minds to big tech company directors are losing their only chance: many board members are skipping annual shareholder meetings. Companies that hold meetings online have…
Wells Fargo CEO gets an earful from shareholders – CBS News
Just last week, Wells Fargo (WFC) agreed to pay a $1 billion fine to the government to settle consumer lending abuse complaints. And at the company’s shareholder meeting today, Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan heard about those abuses — and more. The meeting featured emotional appeals from customers who had lost their homes and was briefly interrupted by…
Investors Object to Virtual-Only Annual Meetings
Some companies are hoping to avoid in-person challenges at the annual meeting by scheduling virtual-only online session. The Council of Institutional Investors, whose members have $3 trillion in assets under management, has also spoken out strongly opposing virtual only meetings and the pension funds of New York City are voting against directors serving on board…
ValueEdge Advisors 