Broadridge No-Action Request Threatens Democracy Broadridge No-Action request threatens democracy, so it deserves a second post because of its critical importance. At an in-person meeting, everyone can easily see a show of hands when the moderator asks if anyone needs more time to vote. Not so at virtual shareholder meetings, which have quickly become the […]
Incentive shares – shareholders have a right to know their distribution. Meta, Amazon, and Repligen argue against disclosure. Working mostly from the same template, they argue distribution of shares to employees is “ordinary business” and “does not focus on any significant policy issue that transcends the company’s ordinary business operations.” I submitted similar proposals to […]
SLB 14L, issued on November 3, 2021, will reduce the costs and uncertainties for both shareholders and boards associated with shareholder proposals. Shareholders will be able to get to the point on important environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues without so much careful word crafting by attorneys. Companies will not waste time on expensive analysis […]
Procter & Gamble employees, do you have a reasonable degree of control over your work and the strategic direction of your Company? Management tells me Procter & Gamble employees have a “significant influence” on Company practices. They have ample opportunity to share perspectives with each other, managers, and the Board. Specifically, they cite the P&G […]
SEC to Protect Shareholder Rights in 2021 Shareholder rights in 2021 will strengthen if recent speculation is realized. U.S. Senate Democrats aim to undo Trump-era shareholder voting rights rule. Shareholder Rights in 2021: History As discussed elsewhere on CorpGov.net (Review: Carl Gershenson). After its founding, the SEC was largely a champion of shareholder rights, requiring companies […]
Apple again invokes the ‘ordinary business’ exclusion roadmap provided by SEC Staff Legal Bulletin 14I (SLB 14I) in an attempt to muzzle shareholders. In the face of mounting evidence of inevitable manmade climate change and with the recognition that society has increasingly limited possibilities of mitigating the worst outcome for future generations, Jantz Management LLC submitted […]
SLB 14I (CF): Issued During 28th Annual SRI Conference The latest SEC Staff Legal Bulletin, SLB 14I (CF), was issued on November 1, while 800 attended the 28th Annual SRI Conference in San Diego. I was flipping though the agenda when I got an email from a Bloomberg reporter asking for feedback on SLB 14I, which […]
Time to step into the way back machine to see what we were writing about 5, 10 and 15 years ago. Five years ago @ Corporate Governance, I was pleading for readers to send comments to the SEC on their proxy access proposals. 30,000 letters wasn’t enough, in my opinion. A shareholder proposal calling for a “say-on-pay” […]
The Commission has found that dividend matters do not involve “ordinary” business matters because such matters are extremely important to most security holders and involve significant (more…)