Hopefully your annual meeting of investors or shareholders went better than the annual meeting for Fortis. Shareholders in Ghent, Belgium threw shoes, coins and ballot boxes. (There is even video.)
Broc Romanek put together his thoughts on Proxy Season Developments: Ten Signs that Things are Changing Online.
- First Use of Live Internet Voting
- Soliciting Shareholder Feedback on Compensation Practices
- Soliciting Shareholder Feedback on Disclosures
- Emergence of Proponent Sites Designed to Solicit Mutual Funds
- Easier Ability to Track Voting ResultsUse of “RSS Street” to Follow Developments
- Use of Corporate Blogs (and Third-Parties) to Solicit Questions
- Use of Twitter to Describe Live Events
- Investors Communicating Through Social Sites
- Much Easier Use of Video Changes Everything
There is also an opportunity to review the success of the online delivery of materials through the Notice and Access Rules. Dominic Jones of the IR Web Report pointed out some statistics on its effectiveness. According to the Broadridge Notice and Access Resource Center there is a big cost savings, but also a big drop in shareholder participation.
But 2.0 tools are giving more power for investors to voice their views as part of the annual meeting. Shareholder activist Robert A.G. Monks posted a transcript of his presentation of five proposals at the Exxon meeting. You can also hear the entire meeting.
References:
- Euro-Shareholder Trend: Throwing Stuff at Board Members by Bruce Carton in Enforcement Action
- Proxy Season Developments: Ten Signs that Things are Changing Online by Broc Romanek on TheCorporateCounsel.net Blog
- Notice and Access: Statistical Overview of Use with
Beneficial Shareholders (.pdf) by Broadridge Notice and Access Resource Center - Target’s Annual Meeting Campaign: “Bringing It” Online by Broc Romanek on TheCorporateCounsel.net Blog
- Monks Tells Exxon Meeting of A New Age of Corporate Governance